Sihuan sues equity group over Botox trade secrets
A unit of Hong-Kong based Sihuan Pharmaceutical Holdings has filed a lawsuit in Beijing accusing private equity firm CBC Group of stealing trade secrets.
Beijing Meiyan Space Technology lodged the suit earlier this month at the Intellectual Property Court in Beijing, according to a statement released by Sihuan on Monday, September 27.
The move follows the proposed acquisition of South Korea’s leading botox maker Hugel by a multinational consortium led by CBC.
Founded in 2014, CBC is the largest healthcare-dedicated investment firm in Asia.
In its statement, Sihuan has vowed to safeguard its position as Hugel’s sole agent for its botulinum toxin, or botox, products in China.
In its statement, Sihuan said: “Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Party Central Committee has made major decisions and arrangements for the implementation of the IP strategy, focusing on increasing the protection of corporate business secrets. Our litigation behaviour is an act of unswervingly abiding by the law and actively seeking protection of legal rights.”
It further noted that while the relevant South Korean government authorities have not yet made an approval decision on the acquisition of Hugel that its own “exclusive agency rights will be protected by the agreement and the law will not be affected”.
The Chinese pharmaceutical company urged Hugel to uphold the principle of good faith under its distribution agreement.
“If in the course of the development of the incident, in the event of a violation of the agreement and infringement of our legal rights, we will resort to all legal means to pursue all legal responsibilities of the relevant parties,” the statement concluded.
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