The court ordered additional legal arguments can be submitted through March 5, 2021.

Evolus Inc. can remain for sale in the U.S. temporarily while an appeals court re-considers an import ban won by AbbVie Inc.’s Allergan that was slated to go into effect on Feb. 16, 2021, according to Bloomberg News.

Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. and Evolus filed a request with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit to put the ban against Jeuveau on hold. Allergan and its South Korean partner MedyTox Inc. in December won a ruling that Jeuveau is made using MedyTox’s secret process to turn the deadly botulinum toxin into a cosmetic product. As a result, the import, sale and marketing of Jeuveau in the U.S. was blocked for 21 months.

The import ban is “temporarily stayed and the government is directed not to enforce the remedial orders until further notice while the court considers the motion for a stay pending appeal,” the Federal Circuit said in an order posted on its electronic docket. 

The court ordered additional legal arguments can be submitted through March 5.

Evolus jumped as much as 7.6% after the temporary ruling and was trading up 2.5% at $7.87 at 9:46 a.m. in New York, Bloomberg reports.

Daewoong and Evolus argue that the U.S. International Trade Commission overstepped its authority by ruling that it could punish a company in the U.S. for actions that occurred exclusively in another country. Daewoong and MedyTox are embroiled in litigation in South Korea over whether Daewoong stole details of the process.  MedyTox has no operations in the U.S. and no product sold in the U.S.  Allergan was involved in the case because it has a proposed product being developed with MedyTox, and Botox competes with Jeuveau, Bloomberg reports.

While Daewoong and Evolus are appealing the ban, AbbVie and MedyTox argue it should last even longer. The companies sought a 10-year import ban on Jeuveau arguing that MedyTox’s bacterial strain does, in fact, qualify as a trade secret.