A US court has temporarily dismissed a lawsuit that South Korea’s botulinum toxin maker Medytox filed against its domestic rival Daewoong Pharmaceutical and its US partner Alphaeon Corp., claiming intellectual property theft.

The Superior Court of California in Orange County on Thursday ruled that the case should be settled in Korea, the country where the issue initially emerged. It will review the case again on April 13, 2018, after Korea’s courts makes a decision on the case.

Medytox released a statement Friday saying that it would soon file a formal lawsuit against Daewoong in Korea, in line with the California court’s order.

The US court’s decision comes around four months after Medytox filed a civil suit against Daewoong and its partner on June 7, alleging that they stole its BTX bacterial strain to develop its Type A botulinum toxin product Nabota.

Medytox had claimed that a former employee sold its bacterial strains and related trade secrets to Daewoong in exchange for $120,000 and additional favors. The controversy has been ongoing in Korea since last year.

Medytox had initiated a lawsuit in the US after Daewoong filed Nabota for approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in June. If approved, Nabota would become the first BTX product developed by a Korean company to be sold in the US, the world’s biggest BTX market which Medytox is also keen to tap.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)