SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A federal magistrate has awarded Brigham Young University more than $852,000 in attorney fees and other costs in an ongoing lawsuit between the school and drugmaker Pfizer Inc. Magistrate Brooke Wells ruled Wednesday that Pfizer has engaged in repeated delays in the suit. BYU claims a professor’s research provided to Pfizer’s predecessor, Monsanto, helped create the anti-inflammatory drug Celebrex. BYU sued Pfizer in 2006 after negotiations didn’t produce an agreement. In the ruling Wells cited abuses and repeated failures in producing documents in the case. Pfizer spokesman Christopher Loder says the company disagrees with the award of fees but respects the court’s ruling. Pfizer says Professor Daniel L. Simmons and his research had nothing to do with the creation of its drug. BYU spokesman Michael Smart says only that the ruling speaks for itself.
