In a victory for AbbVie (ABBV), the U.S. International Trade Commission decided that imports of a rival to its Botox wrinkle treatment must be halted for 21 months.
The ruling came in response to a complaint filed last year by Allergan, which AbbVie has since acquired, alleging that a pair of rival companies — Evolus (ELOS) and Daewoong Pharmaceuticals — stole trade secrets that were used to develop a new wrinkle-smoothing product called Jeuveau.
Last summer, an ITC judge proposed a 10-year sales ban on Jeuveau after deciding that a bacterial strain involved in making the product was covered by trade secrets. In rolling back the length of the ban, however, the agency determined the bacterial strain was not covered by confidential information that Allergan argued was stolen from Medytox, its marketing partner for a newer wrinkle treatment.
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