Daewoong Pharmaceutical claimed that it has gained the upper hand in the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC)’s investigation into Medytox's complaint about Daewoong's botulinum toxin, Nabota.

The ITC has ordered Medytox to clarify what alleged trade secrets Daewoong had violated until July 16.

"While Medytox claims that Daewoong infringed on its trade secrets, it has not been able to properly disclose exactly what that trade secret is," the company said. "Therefore, we requested a detailed explanation of what sort of trade secret we have violated, and the ITC instructed Medytox to address it directly through the agency’s statement, defying Medytox's objection."

The ITC order came after the agency ordered Allergan to submit relevant data based on a request made by Daewoong. According to the ITC statement (Order No. 16), the court will review all data, including batch records, characterization reports, and biologics license applications until July 15. The agency also ordered Allergan to submit spore-forming data and test results for its Hall-A hyper strain.

"As the ITC accepted Daewoong's request, which was made through the discovery system, we have gained the upper hand in the ITC investigation," the company said. "We are confident that the obvious truth will be revealed through the ITC investigation as well as the similar domestic civil litigation."

Medytox refuted Daewoong's claims, however, providing the full text of the ITC order.

"The full order reads 'the administrative law judge finds that at this particular stage of discovery, Medytox has provided sufficient information about the alleged misappropriated trade secret,'" a company spokesperson told Korea Biomedical Review. "The order states that Medytox has to provide which of the trade secrets Daewoong improperly used or disclosed."

Therefore, it is not a matter of what the trade secret is but a matter of which part of the trade secret Daewoong violated, the spokesperson said.

Based on the evidence and testimony, Medytox will prepare specific data on Daewoong's trade secret infringement and submit it to the ITC, he added.

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