Medytox Inc. (CEO HyunHo Jung) won a sweeping victory in the first-instance civil lawsuit it had filed against Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., accusing Daewoong of stealing and misappropriating its trade secrets related to toxin strain and manufacturing process.

The 61st Civil Division of Seoul Central District Court (Presiding Judge Oh-seok Kwon) ruled on Feb. 10, 2023 that Daewoong’s Nabota has been developed by stealing Medytox’s botulinum toxin strain and manufacturing process. The Court prohibited Daewoong from manufacturing and selling its toxin products, including Nabota, while ordering Daewoong to hand over its strain to Medytox and discard all toxin products that have already been produced. The Court also ordered Daewoong to pay KRW 40 billion in damages to Medytox. In all, the ruling represented a complete wining by Medytox.

With the Court’s decision, Medytox can now reclaim its rights only 5 years and 4 months after it filed the suit against Daewoong in October 2017, when it first raised suspicion that its botulinum toxin strain and manufacturing process had been stolen.

The Court found that the strain Daewoong has used in manufacturing its toxin products originated from Medytox’s strain and Daewoong’s argument that it had separated and identified its strain from soil in certain area of Korea was unacceptable, given various evidence submitted to the Court. The Court also found that Daewoong’s manufacturing process was based on the manufacturing process stolen from Medytox, dismissing Daewoong’s claim that its manufacturing process is the result of its independent R&D, on the grounds that Daewoong’s R&D period was too short.

The latest Korean Court’s ruling reflected U.S. ITC’s previous decision, under which Daewoong was banned from exporting its toxin products to the U.S. market for 21 months. Long and in-depth deliberation took place at the Korean Court after key evidence and witness statements, expert analysis reports from the ITC proceedings were submitted to the Court.

Medytox’s spokesperson said, “this Court ruling is a clear and rightful judgment that is based on indisputable scientific evidence such as DNA sequence test results. We are delighted to witness justice and fairness in Korea. We will strengthen our efforts to protect our rights based on this ruling. We will speed up our legal reviews against additional companies that are suspected of having stolen Medytox’s toxin strain and manufacturing process to commercialize their own toxin products.”