US ITC bans Nabota from importing for 21 months

Daewoong immediate appeal

ITC finalizes lawsuit for infringement of trade secrets of botulinum strains

Daewoong's sales effect is insignificant, mobilizing all legal procedures

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) issued an order to ban imports from the US for 21 months on Jubo (Nabota), a botulinum toxin product developed by Daewoong.

 

According to industry sources on the 17th, the US ITC issued a final ruling on the 16th (local time) in a lawsuit between Medy Tox and Daewoong infringement of trade secrets of botulinum strains.

 

However, the period for the US import ban was drastically reduced from 10 years to 21 months.

 

As a result of the preliminary judgment, they accepted the allegations of stealing Medy Tox strain and manufacturing technology, but decided that the strain was not a trade secret and therefore did not fall under the ITC's regulatory matters.

 

Medy Tox and Daewoong have been struggling for a long time over the source of the botulinum strain.

 

In 2019, Medy Tox and Allergan filed a lawsuit against Daewoong and Evolus to the US ITC, and in July this year, the ITC administrative judge ruled that Daewoong's Nabota was banned from US imports for 10 years.

 

Since then, Daewoong has filed for an objection, and ITC accepted it and proceeded with a re-examination.

 

The final judgment was also postponed three times from November 6 to November 19 and again to December 17.

 

The ITC is a federally independent, quasi-judicial body directly under the President of the United States with extensive investigative power on trade issues.

 

After the ITC makes a final decision that a violation of Article 337 exists, it will be passed on to the President and approved by the President.

 

The President of the United States has the right to veto a decision within 60 days of the date of delivery by the ITC.

 

If the President exercises his veto power, the ITC's final decision and action shall take effect on the date the President's veto is notified.

 

In the US, it is believed that Allergan won the ruling.

 

Bloomberg reported on the ITC ruling, "AbbVie has blocked Botox rivals from importing to the United States.

 

As the ITC decided to ban US imports for 21 months on Jubo, which Evolus sells, it will be able to maintain a monopoly." AbbVie owns the license and sales rights of Botox through the acquisition of Allergan.

 

Immediately after the final ITC decision was delivered, Evolus shares, which are listed on the NASDAQ, fell 3.9% from the previous trading day.

 

Evolus, as a partner of Daewoong, is in charge of selling Jubo in the US.

 

However, with this ruling, the dispute between the two companies over the source of the botulinum strain is not expected to end immediately.

 

Daewoong said that the decision made by the ITC Committee regarding the final decision of the ITC was based on Allergan's domestic industrial protectionism to protect the monopoly market, and therefore Daewoong will appeal.

 

An official of Daewoong said, "It is clear that Daewoong developed Nabota without infringement of trade secrets.

 

We will fight to the end by mobilizing all legal procedures in the ongoing dispute to uncover the truth." Nabota's US sales portion of annual sales is currently less than 2%, so the impact on corporate management is expected to be insignificant.”