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Dispute with PBL Solutions Limited

Legal5 June 2020AFTHealthcare

Market and media release 5 June 2020

Dispute with PBL Solutions Limited

AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited [NZX: AFT; ASX: AFP] advises that British Virgin

Islands incorporated PBL Solutions Limited, the 35% shareholder in AFT’s 65%

owned subsidiary AFT Orphan Pharmaceuticals Limited, has filed legal

proceedings in the New Zealand High Court against AFT and Dr Hartley

Atkinson. AFT disclosed this as a potential claim in its FY2020 results

announcement dated 20 May 2020 and also in the notes to its FY2020 financial

statements.

The substance of the claim is that AFTO rather than AFT, should have had the

opportunity to pursue the drug development opportunity in respect of

Pascomer, and that AFT and Dr Atkinson breached contractual and other

obligations in pursuing that opportunity through AFT.

The proceedings seek an account of the profits made by AFT in relation to

Pascomer, including an account of future profits, or alternatively damages in

an amount to be quantified.

Pascomer is a drug development project that if successful has the potential for

the topical treatment of Facial Angiofibromas in Tuberous Sclerosis and was the

subject of a market announcement by AFT on 4 November 2019.

To date AFT has invested in excess of NZ$5.6 million in the Pascomer drug

development project. AFT expects it to be about four years before Pascomer’s

commercialisation potential is able to be determined, FDA and any other

required regulatory approvals obtained, and any sales achieved.

AFTO was established in 2011 by AFT and PBL through its founder, Mr Giles Moss,

at that time a contractor to AFT, based in Malaysia. AFTO was established as a

vehicle for its shareholders to share profits from the marketing and distribution

of orphan drugs only, and only in the Southeast Asia region.


AFT has consistently maintained that AFTO was never intended to act as a drug

development company, was not resourced or capitalised to do so and that

the opportunity to invest in the development of Pascomer was not one to which

AFTO was entitled. Pascomer was introduced to AFT by Medicas Group LLC of

the United States as no more than a drug development idea based upon

publicly available information.

AFT and Dr Atkinson will vigorously defend the allegations made by PBL in the

proceedings and are considering their options in terms of a counterclaim

against both PBL and Mr Moss personally, in relation to matters that have been

previously raised with Mr Moss.

For and on behalf of AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited, Malcolm Tubby, CFO.


For more information:

Investors Media

Dr Hartley Atkinson Richard Inder

Managing Director The Project

AFT Pharmaceuticals Tel: +64 21 645 643

Tel: +64 9488 0232


About AFT Pharmaceuticals

AFT is a growing multinational pharmaceutical company that develops,

markets and distributes a broad portfolio of pharmaceutical products across a

wide range of therapeutic categories which are distributed across all major

pharmaceutical distribution channels: over-the-counter (OTC), prescription

and hospital. Our product portfolio comprises both proprietary and in-licensed

products, and includes patented, branded and generic drugs. Our business

model is to develop and in-license products for sale by our own dedicated sales

teams in our home markets of Australia and New Zealand and in certain

Southeast Asian markets, and to out-license our products to local licensees and

distributors to over 125 countries around the world. For more information about

the company, visit our website www.aftpharm.com.

Data sourced from publicly available filings. Our datasets may not be complete. Automated analysis can produce errors. If you believe any data on this page is incorrect, please contact us at hello@nzxplorer.co.nz. For informational purposes only. Not investment advice.