The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has asked the Supreme Court to step in and overturn a lower court's decision to dismiss its suspension order for revoking the sales license of Medytox's botulinum toxin drugs.
The regulator's appeal will open a new round for the legal brawl between the two parties as the ministry is trying to revoke the manufacturing and sales license of Medytox's two representative botulinum toxin drugs -- Meditoxin (50, 100, 150, 200 units) and Coretox (100 unit). Medytox seeks to suspend the effects of such orders.
Medytox was at risk of losing its product licenses for the two products after the ministry revoked their licenses after confirming that the company had violated the law by trading the products overseas without its permission to leave the country in November last year.
However, the Daejeon District Court ruled in favor of Medytox and suspended the ministry's order.
The ministry appealed, but the court sided again with Medytox and dismissed its appeal on Dec. 30.
The Supreme Court has yet to decide the trial date.
It was not the first time the ministry tried to revoke Medytox's products' sales licenses by bringing the case to the top court.
In June, the regulator canceled Meditoxin's product license after the prosecutors found that Medytox had manufactured its treatments using unlicensed ingredients. However, an appellate court accepted Medytox's injunction request. The Supreme Court also ruled not to hear the ministry's appeal and allowed Medytox to continue to manufacture and sell its products in November.
The ministry is also in the process of revoking the sales license for Innotox, another BTX treatment manufactured by Medytox, after banning the manufacture, sales, and use of the treatment on Dec. 22.
To put an early end to its legal troubles, Medytox had recently recruited legal experts Lee Doo-sik as its new vice president.
"The recruitment of Vice President Lee is expected to elevate our ethical management system to a global level," a Medytox official said. "We will also speed up the process to put an early end to the ongoing litigations."