[THE INVESTOR] Medytox CEO Jung Hyun-ho is slated to meet with executives at Allergan to discuss the start of phase 3 clinical trials of its liquid-type botulinum toxin Innotox this week, according to local news reports on July 11.

Medytox and Allergan struck a license partnership in 2013, when the Seoul-based company sold the global development and commercialization rights to Innotox to Allergan for US$360 million.

Jung’s recent visit to the US is aimed at cementing a concrete timetable for the US clinical trials of Innotox, according to local reports.

Allergan announced in its 2016 second quarter earnings report that it would begin the third-phase trials of Innotox in early 2017. However it is yet to begin the trials due to scale-up production issues with Medytox. Since then, Allergan had not publicized further plans for Innotox, fueling investor concerns.

A Medytox official told a local news outlet that the given production issues have been resolved and that it “expects Allergan to begin the phase 3 trials of Innotox by the end of this year.”

If Allergan does decide to carry out the final-stage trials of Innotox, the move is expected to lend a major revenue boost to Medytox which will produce and sell the liquid-injectable antiwrinkle fillers to be used in the trials to its global partner.

A Medytox spokesperson could not be reached for comment when contacted by The Korea Herald on July 11.

By Sohn Ji-young/The Korea Herald (jys@heraldcorp.com)