Daewoong Pharmaceutical and Medytox have been continuing their domestic legal battles over the source of the botulinum toxin (BTX) strain for years.
Industry officials are now paying attention to how the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)’s recent annulling of its final determination on the import ban of Daewoong’s BTX will affect their legal disputes in Korea.
On Thursday, Daewoong said the ICT announced the “vacatur of the final determination,” including the import ban of Jeuveau, the export name of Daewoong’s BTX Nabota. The decision was based on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)’s ruling to dismiss the lawsuit filed by Medytox and AbbVie against Daewoong and Evolus.
Daewoong argued that the invalidation of the final ITC decision made it impossible for Medytox or AbbVie to use the decision in other trials in the U.S. The decision also weakened the basis of Medytox's claim in the lawsuits in Korea.
Also, Daewoong predicted that the ITC’s nullification of the final ruling would substantially affect domestic lawsuits between Daewoong and Medytox. The local civil and criminal lawsuits between the two companies have rarely progressed for several years.
According to industry officials, the two companies had the last hearing in the civil lawsuit over infringement of trade secrets on March 17.
The two sides have prepared for pleadings several times with both sides’ arguments coming and going, the two could not narrow differences in positions, they said.
As for the criminal lawsuit, the prosecution has suspended the indictment for two years.
The prosecution put the case on hold on Oct. 28, 2019, citing the ongoing lawsuit with the ITC over the theft of BTX strains in the U.S.
“We are pleased to see the legal effect of the ITC’s misjudgment being nullified,” an official at Daewoong said. “As all the risks of BTX business in the U.S. have been cleared, we will expand the BTX business into other foreign markets and raise the business value.”
Medytox said the ITC’s ruling would remain valid in the domestic court, although it has been nullified.
“We had already agreed on the ITC’s nullification of the final determination. We will announce a separate statement on Daewoong’s misleading of facts,” an official at Medytox said.