The loss of patent on Lipitor looks set to cost up to 180 jobs at two Pfizer plants in Cork. Linda Johnson examines the success of the lucrative cholesterol lowering drug

WHEN Pfizer began construction of its first plant in Ringaskiddy in 1969, there was a hope that the facility producing citric acid and gluconate products would be the first of many which would ultimately make Cork and Ireland a global giant in the pharmaceutical trade.

Pfizer has agreed to plead guilty and pay €343m in fines to settle charges that Warner-Lambert, the company it acquired four years ago, flouted the law by promoting non-approved uses for one of its drugs.

Northern Irish company Galen Holdings has paid £224m (€326m) to US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer for two female contraceptives and a hormone replacement therapy.

Chocolate and soft drinks group Cadbury Schweppes has increased its offer for the Adams chewing gum business to $4.3bn (€4.26bn), a report said today.