Court suspends revocation of Medytox's license

Meditoxin botulinum toxin products developed by Medytox / Courtesy of Medytox

By Jun Ji-hye

A district court here has ordered the suspension of a government decision to revoke Medytox's license to sell its botulinum toxin products until July 14, company officials said Wednesday.

On June 18, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced that the permit for the company's 50-unit, 100-unit and 150-unit Meditoxin products was being revoked and the products would be permanently removed from domestic shelves, starting June 25.

The court's order came after the botulinum toxin maker applied for a provisional injunction and filed a lawsuit later that day, asking Daejeon District Court to reverse the decision of the drug safety watchdog.

The order means the court needs time to determine whether to accept the firm's request.

A lawyer for the company said this showed there was room for argument about whether the ministry made the right decision.

The ministry earlier said the pharmaceutical company was found to have used an unapproved ingredient to produce the drug and fabricated efficacy test results between 2012 and 2015 to obtain a license to manufacture and sell the products. It noted such acts were in violation of pharmaceutical laws.

The ministry added, however, that it had reached the conclusion that the Meditoxin products did not pose any significant safety risk.

Medytox claimed the cancellation of its license was too severe a punishment, given that the ministry acknowledged there were no significant safety problems.

Launched in 2006, Meditoxin became the first botulinum toxin product made in Korea and the fourth in the world.

The investigation by the prosecution and the ministry was initiated following a report made last year by a former Medytox employee to the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission. The employee was working for smaller rival, Daewoong Pharmaceutical, at the time.