Here's some good news for long-suffering Shoppers Drug Mart Corp. investors: An Ontario court ruled against a provincial government regulation that had imposed restrictions on the sale of private-label generic drugs. The judges ruled that the ban "interferes with the right to trade and commercial freedom, without specific authority to do so," according to a report by Dow Jones.
The impact on Shoppers' share price – hit hard last year when the Ontario government got tough on reimbursements to pharmacists and, more recently, the news that the company's chief executive was leaving – was dramatic. After flat-lining throughout the day, the shares jumped in midday activity, and were recently up 4.4 per cent.
David Berman