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AFT Pharmaceuticals (ASX:AFP) is an Australian-grown pharmaceuticals company focusing on the over-the-counter market, heading towards its $300 million revenue target for FY27 and developing a number of products in the pipeline, including an iron transfusion product.
This article is disseminated in partnership with AFT Pharmaceuticals. It is intended to inform investors and should not be taken as a recommendation or financial advice.
You may best recognise AFT Pharmaceuticals given that in its portfolio is one of Australia’s most recognisable OTC brands – that of Maxigesic, a general purpose painkiller including paracetamol and ibuprofen available on the shelves of pharmacies, and even AFT’s own e-channels on Amazon and elsewhere.
But the story of AFT Pharmaceuticals’ founder and CEO Hartley Atkinson is just as noteworthy.
From starting the company out of a garage alongside his wife, Hartley has grown AFT into an international-facing brand with OTC products in a number of key international markets – and with no desire to retire anytime soon.
In this episode of From the Wire, AFT Pharma’s founder and CEO Hartley Atkinson sits down with senior markets reporter Jonathon Davidson to discuss his roots in Perth, Western Australia; what it takes to start a pharmaceutical company from your garage; how the regulatory and commercial landscapes have changed in the last forty years, and, how emerging technologies like AI stand to further disrupt the industry.
So have the rules of business changed?
“There’s a few more complexities… nowadays we have more focus on things like ESG [but] the basics haven’t really changed, where if you’re working in medicine and pharmaceuticals you’re wanting to do the right thing,” Atkinson said.
“We only sell products we believe in, so we don’t sell things like opioids and that type of thing, we try and develop treatments that avoid treatments like that, you know – so some things have changed, and some kind of haven’t really.”
For the full From the Wire episode, you can listen above – right here in the browser.
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The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
