Breaking News: AbbVie’s Allergan Wins Trade Secret Case Against Evolus

Imports of Jeuveau will be banned for 21 months.

AbbVie Inc.’s Allergan won a U.S. trade agency order to block Evolus Inc. and its partner Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. from importing Jeuveau into the U.S. for 21 months, according to media reports.

The U.S. International Trade Commission upheld a judge’s findings that Jeuveau is made with a secret process stolen from Allergan’s Korean partner Medytox Inc. The judge originally recommended that the Botox rival be banned for 10 years.

The 21-month period would begin after the completion of a 60-day presidential review period. Either President Donald Trump or President-elect Joe Biden could veto the ban on public policy grounds although such actions are rarely taken.

Shares of Evolus dropped by as much as 20.71 percent with the news and were trading at $3.42 at 3:42 p.m. in New York, Bloomberg reported.

Allergan and Medytox claimed that Jeuveau was developed using a stolen trade secrets.  Evolus and Daewoong denied these claims and argued the dispute didn’t belong before the U.S. agency. The commission’s full opinion will be available in a couple of weeks after lawyers for both sides can redact any confidential information. The case was filed at the Washington agency in February 2019 days before Evolus received U.S. regulatory approval to sell Jeuveau.