Dispute with PBL Solutions Limited
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.