March investor update

31 March 2025
March investor update
AFT partners on new iron medicine; sees global progress
- AFT agrees to advance a novel injectable iron therapy, to phase 3 trials as part of a new partnership with Belgium’s Hyloris Pharmaceuticals; targeting a US$7.4 billion global market
- We have successfully launched Crystaderm® in China, capping off a year of achievements for business development, with AFT's medicines accounting for two of the 19 in-licensing deals in that market for any pharmaceutical company from around the globe in 2024
- We are seeing strong international interest in our portfolio of developed and developing products with around twenty agreements under various stages of discussion.

AFT Pharmaceuticals (NZX: AFT; ASX: AFP) today announces confirmation of a new agreement to develop a novel innovative injectable iron deficiency therapy. The agreement caps off the strong progress the diversified pharmaceutical company has made in the 2025 financial year.
Co-Founder and Managing Director Dr Hartley Atkinson said: “Our new iron deficiency treatment ¬— first flagged in October 2024 as a conditional agreement — has shown great potential in Phase 2 trials and offers a significant opportunity to develop an iron infusion therapy with advantages over existing therapies. Data to support this will have to be established in the Phase 3 clinical trial program.
“The agreement for the medicine extends AFT’s research and development pipeline to 13 separate projects – 5 largely completed and 8 underway, all of which offer strong potential to further accelerate our long-term growth and support the global diversification of the business across the OTC, Hospital and Prescription channels and across multiple markets internationally.
“AFT has a decades-long track record for driving strong growth through its ability to identify unmet clinical needs and then in-license or develop and commercialise medicines to improve health globally.
“Over the 2025 financial year we have further successfully executed on this strategy. Our achievements in China — where two of our medicines were among the just 19 in licensing deals struck in that country in 2024 ¬— is emblematic of this success.
“Our medicines are now sold in more than 80 markets around the world, and we have distribution or licensing agreements in over 100 markets around the world. We see significant opportunities to extend and deepen this global footprint by expanding the number of markets where we operate and by out-licensing our proprietary medicines including those in development.
“Notably, we have also, in parallel, extended our AFT footprint with business operations now in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, USA, Canada, Europe and the UK.
“We are looking forward to providing a further update on our progress when we release our FY25 financial results on 22 May this year.
“As we affirmed in January, we expect to achieve record sales of more than $200 million (excluding license income) in FY25 which would be a significant increase from the $56 million and $106 million turnover in the FY15 and FY20 financial years respectively. We meanwhile remain firmly focussed on our target of achieving $300 million turnover by the close of the FY27 financial year. We, meanwhile, continue to expect operating profit for FY25 to range between $15 million and $20 million.”
Novel Injectable Iron – targeting a market expected to grow to US$7.4 billion in 2033
The late-stage research and development program for the New Chemical Entity (NCE) is a collaboration with Belgium’s Hyloris Pharmaceuticals. The product holds out the potential for some significant and unique features to alleviate iron deficiency, a common condition that affects 15% of the world population. It offers AFT and its partners entry into a market which is forecast to more than double from around US$3.2 billion in 2023 to US$7.4 billion in 2033.
The NCE Injectable Iron is a well-advanced R&D project having completed Phase 2b trials. Once commercialised it will extend AFT’s strong position in iron medicines in the over-the-counter channel, into the prescription channel. AFT’s current OTC portfolio includes Ferro-liquid, FerroTab, Ferro-F-Tab, Ferro-sachets, Ferro Liposachets and FerroMalt which cumulatively represents a significant position in the Australasian iron medicines market.
Under the terms of the original conditional agreement — first flagged in October 2024 — upon meeting pre-specified conditions, AFT and Hyloris secure an exclusive global IP license for the NCE Injectable Iron and together with the original development company they will co-develop the medicine for registration and global commercialisation.
Hyloris will oversee product formulation, manufacturing, and the coordination of commercialisation in Europe. AFT will manage the clinical trials, execution and the commercialisation outside Europe which will include the world’s second and third largest pharmaceutical markets – China and Japan. The duo is jointly responsible for commercialisation in the US, the world’s largest pharmaceutical market.
Phase 3 clinical trial(s) involving approximately 1000 patients will be conducted across the globe in USA, Europe, India and China for investigation of the products efficacy and safety. Development costs, as well as all net margin from sales and licensing, will be distributed equally between AFT and Hyloris, after a tiered profit participation for the original development company.
The agreement extends AFT’s partnership with Hyloris. The companies successfully collaborated to commercialise Maxigesic IV, the intravenous version of AFT’s patented pain relief medicine now sold in 50 countries and out-licensed to partners for distribution in a further 50+ countries. AFT is also collaborating with the Belgian company to develop and commercialise a new treatment for Burning Mouth Syndrome and another for Vulvar Lichen Sclerosis, both conditions without approved pharmaceutical treatments.
AFT punches above its weight in China
New research shows that AFT is achieving success, amongst global pharma, in China that belies its size.
In 2024, according to a report compiled by MybioBD Management Consulting Co. , AFT medicines – the antiseptic cream Crystaderm and Maxigesic IV – accounted for two of the just 19 developed medicines in-licensed into China in 2024.
Our partner distributor Hainan Haiyao successfully launched Crystaderm in China in March this year, after signing the in-licensing agreement in July 2024.
Additionally, we have completed a further four distribution agreements with Hainan for Vitamin C LipoSachets, Vitamin D LipoSachets, Ferro LipoSachets and Kiwisoothe tablets. These products are launching initially in the Lecheng Free Trade Zone but launches in Mainland China are planned over the next 12 months to make a total of five launches into China within a year.
Meanwhile, Xizang Weixinkang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd (WXK), an established hospital injectables focused company in China and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange main board, was licensed to distribute Maxigesic IV in this market in September 2024.
WXK and AFT are presently working on pursuing regulatory approval for the medicine in China.
Strong global interest for our medicines
The progress and interest in our products in China reflect a broader trend we are seeing around the world. At present we are engaged in some 20 out-licensing discussions, which we expect to progress in the new financial year. These discussions cover:
- The Maxigesic family of medicines, where we are gradually filling in gaps in the global footprint
- Products that have recently emerged from our development programme including Crystaderm, Capsaicin pain relieving cream, and our Micolette microenema.
- The portfolio of 24 hospital injectables that we are developing in partnership with Edge Pharmaceuticals (70:30). Together these injectables target a market for our affiliates in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, Canada and UK worth more than US$450 million. Out-licensing discussions have been initiated in other markets such as the EU and Middle East where the target market is worth over US$1 billion.
- Niche injectables that we acquired in 2024 from a bankrupt German company where we have already secured and additionally are working on further distribution agreements in selected EU markets.
For and on behalf of AFT Pharmaceuticals Limited by Malcolm Tubby, Chief Financial Officer.


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 New Zealand based 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 in our markets of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, USA, Canada, EU ex Ireland and UK, 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.

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