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New Zealand drug maker AFT Pharmaceuticals (ASX:AFP) will continue working with United States distributor Hikma Pharmaceuticals to sell key products in the U.S. after the two biotech companies put pen to paper on a new deal.
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The “pleased” Auckland healthcare company, dual-listed on the ASX and NZX, updated shareholders on the Hikma agreement extension on Monday.
Under the new 2025 deal, Hikma will now “take over all channels” for AFT Pharma’s Combogesic Rapid pain relief medicine across the U.S. (except for several regions already covered by an existing deal with Alexso Inc.).
Hikma had already been responsible for selling Combogesic IV in the States.
That standing agreement has been reshuffled slightly too: AFT Pharma and Hikma have shaken hands on a new profit-sharing arrangement, which was mainly drawn up to remove a milestone sales had to meet before sharing started.
In the same fineprint overhaul, AFT Pharma is now jointly responsible for sales and marketing for both Combogesic IV and Rapid — both operationally and financially.
(It’s worth noting, most Aussies would actually know Combogesic as “Maxigesic.”)
The newly-re-upped deal is a win, AFT Pharma boss Dr Hartley Atkinson explained, not least because it means the NZ biotech company can best answer a rising demand in the U.S. for other Combogesic options.
“Feedback from the U.S. has been that clinicians wish to follow non-opioid intravenous relief of mild to moderate pain with the tablet therapy — an approach that offers non-opioid relief through all stages of recovery,” Dr Atkinson said.
“In doing so [expanding offerings],” he added, “we can not only help clinicians to offer comprehensive non-opioid pain relief, but can maximise the opportunity.”
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This expansion will also reduce abuse risks, Dr Hartley added, keeping in mind “U.S. healthcare costs associated with opioid abuse are estimated at $11 billion a year.
“With 6% of patients administered an opioid postoperatively going on to consume the medicine chronically, the two forms of Combogesic offer clinicians an opportunity to reduce the [associated] risks,” he suggested.
AFP has been selling at $2.45/sh through Monday trade.
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