If Abbvie’s Allergan gets its way, the biggest threat to its blockbuster wrinkle remover Botox — Evolus’s Jeuveau — will be banned from the U.S. for the next 10 years.
Allergan and its Korean partner Medytox have asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban Jeuveau — manufactured by Korea’s Daewoong Pharmaceuticals and sold in the U.S. by Evolus — because of trade secret theft. According to their complaint, Daewoong obtained the bacteria Medytox uses to develop Botox from a former Medytox employee, a claim both Daewoong and the former employee deny. But an ITC administrative law judge ruled in favor of Allergan and Medytox in July, recommending a 10-year ban on Jeuveau.
This is an atrociously incorrect legal ruling. The legal battle is about patent infringement in KOREA, not the US. The ITC has NO JURISDICTION about a patent infringement in KOREA.