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| Medytox CEO Jung Hyun-ho, left, and Hugel CEO Sohn Ji-hoon / Yonhap |
By Baek Byung-yeul
Medytox's legal win over Daewoong Pharmaceutical is expected to shake up the local botulinum toxin (BTX) market, as Medytox, Korea's first Botox developer, is also embroiled in a legal tussle with another competitor, Hugel in the United States, over the BTX strain used to manufacture the cosmetics treatment, according to the companies, Monday.
On Friday, the Seoul District Court sentenced that Daewoong's BTX products were developed by stealing Medytox's BTX strains and manufacturing processes. The court ordered Daewoong to pay 40 billion won ($31.3 million) in compensation to Medytox and prohibited the company from producing and selling its BTX products.
Medytox has claimed that Daewoong stole its BTX strains, which Daewoong refuted, saying it found its own BTX strain in a barn in Gyeonggi Province.
The lawsuit ended in its favor, but Medytox still has another legal battle with Hugel.
In March 2022, Medytox field a lawsuit with the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) against Hugel, its partner Croma-Pharma GmbH and their joint venture Hugel America, accusing them of stealing its BTX strains.
Medytox claimed they are making BTX products by stealing its strains and manufacturing know-how. The preliminary ruling on this lawsuit is scheduled to be made in November and the final ruling will be out in March 2024.
The legal victory over Daewoong was the result of the local court reflecting the USITC's ruling in 2020, in which the agency ordered a 21-month import ban on Daewoong's products into the U.S., according to Medytox.
"Based on the local courts' ruling on Friday, we will continue making efforts to protect our patented technology," a spokesman of Medytox said. "We have been in a legal tussle with Hugel in the U.S. since March 2022. Currently, we don't have any plans to take further legal action against Hugel and are just waiting for the results of the lawsuit there."
Regarding that, Hugel refuted the view that Medytox's win over Daewoong could affect its own lawsuit against Medytox in the U.S.
"The lawsuit between Medytox and Daewoong Pharmaceutical is a dispute that has nothing to do with us. This cannot be an obstacle to the lawsuit with Medytox in the U.S.," Hugel said in a statement. "For over 20 years, we have been recognized for our research and development processes and were able to grow into a global company. The excellence of our technology and product are highly recognized both domestically and globally."
The company added it will continue to solidify its market leadership in the domestic BTX market.
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