Stock Takes: How this NZ pharma firm prices drugs to avoid villain status

AFT Pharmaceuticals co-founder and managing director Dr Hartley Atkinson says his business is against drugs with codiene and psuedoephedrine.

Pharmaceutical companies are renowned for being more villain than hero, but a New Zealand listed drug maker claims to be an exception.

“If we don’t believe a product works, if we don’t believe it’s right, we don’t sell it,” AFT Pharmaceuticals managing director Dr Hartley Atkinson said on the Herald’s Stock Takes podcast.

Talking following the Government’s decision to scrap $5 prescription fees for state-funded medicines, Atkinson explained AFT’s process to develop, licence, price and market over-the-counter pharmaceuticals.

“We are trying to make a profit.”

However, the business was ruled by the company’s tagline, “working to improve your health”, Atkinson said.

AFT was against codeine and pseudoephedrine.

Atkinson actively lobbied against the latter because of the ability to convert it to methamphetamine.

“I personally got contacted by some people in big pharma to pull my head in, and I basically told them, politely, where to go.”

Its mainstay pain relief product Maxigesic - a mix of ibuprofen and paracetamol - was intentionally created as an opioid alternative.

“It’s all very well telling doctors off ... You also need to give them alternatives.”

Maxigesic is sold in 61 countries and licensed in more than 100.

AFT typically created new drugs by combining or re-purposing established medicines for new uses - it was currently investigating treatment for strawberry birthmarks.

The development process often required human clinical trials, and cost between $10m and $12m to get a drug from idea to a pharmacy counter.

“It’s not a cheap exercise but, quite frankly, other companies spend considerably more.”

Despite the name Maxigesic, Atkinson said it was not looking to make maximum profits off patients.

Its pricing of medicines - created or imported - was influenced only by the development and production costs, Atkinson said.

“We’re always angling and aiming to make it so it’s affordable.

“We’d be much happier if lots of consumers were using the product and getting the benefit out of it.”

A lot of its profits were reinvested into new drug development, he said.

AFT made record revenue in the year to March of $156.6 million and announced a maiden dividend of 1.1 cents per share.

Listen to the full podcast for more from Atkinson on the world of pharmaceuticals

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