Daewoong Pharmaceutical is again under investigation by prosecutors over allegations that it stole Medytox's botulinum toxin (BTX) strain technology, Maeil Business Newspaper first reported on Wednesday.

According to the report, the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office's Criminal Division ordered the Seoul High Prosecutors' Office to reopen the case into Daewoong for violating the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology, and Unfair Competition Prevention Act last Thursday.

A reopening order aims to investigate a case further because the previous investigation was incomplete.

The High Public Prosecutors' Office and the Supreme Public Prosecutors' Office, which receives re-appeals, can dismiss the appeal if the appeal is without merit, issue a reinvestigation order, or order to dismiss the indictment, depending on the case.

If there is an order to reopen the case, a new case number will be assigned to the dismissed case, and the case will be investigated again. If a reopening order is issued on appeal, a different prosecutor instead of the one who originally dismissed the case will investigate the case.

The Seoul High Prosecutors' Office recently ordered a new investigation, despite the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office clearing Daewoong of any wrongdoing in February of last year.

Medytox had previously sued Daewoong and a former researcher at Medytox for violating the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology, alleging that Daewoong stole its strain technology and developed its BTX, Nabota, in 2017.

As a result, Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office conducted raids on Daewoong's headquarters, research center, and factory in 2021 and secured relevant data.

However, the prosecutors acquitted Daewoong in February last year and dismissed some of the technology leakage and business embezzlement charges as the statute of limitations had passed.

At the time, the investigation team determined that there was no evidence to admit that Medytox's unique botulinum strain or manufacturing process information had been passed on to Daewoong.

While acknowledging that the two companies' products were based on similar source technologies, the court said it was unclear whether this was due to a "technology leak."

In response, Medytox filed an appeal in March last year, claiming that the prosecution's investigation was flawed.

Industry watchers have said that Medytox's recent win against Daewoong in civil court, where the court ruled in favor of Medytox, including the prohibition of infringement of trade secrets, in February.

The court ordered Daewoong to compensate for damages of 40 billion won ($31.6 million), turn over Daewoong's BTX strain to Medytox, and discard all finished BTX products made with the strain.

The ruling has since been suspended as Daewoong submitted a request for a suspension of execution to the Seoul Central District Court.

Regarding the prosecutor's decision, Daewoong said that they will respond to the investigation.

Medytox, on the other hand, said that the decision is a long overdue one, given the civil court ruling confirmed Daewoong's theft.

"We welcome the decision to reopen the case," a Medytox official told Korea Biomedical Review. "We expect the prosecution to conduct a thorough and rigorous investigation that will clearly reveal Daewoong's illegal behavior."