Grifols, the Spanish group which specializes in the hospital-pharmaceutical sector and is one of the world's leading producers of plasma products, will shortly start construction of a new plant representing an investment of 20 million euros that will employ about 100 people, as soon as it obtains local permits and licenses. The new facilities will have the capacity to fractionate 1 million liters of plasma a year (with potential to expand to 2 million), allowing the group to double its existing fractionation capacity in Spain. The Grifols plant in Los Angeles, California, currently has a capacity of 2.2 million liters, giving the group total capacity of 6.3 million liters in 2014.
The construction work is scheduled to take 18 months, after which the process of obtaining licenses from the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) in the United States and from the EMA (European Medicines Agency) will begin. This is expected to take no more than two years, as the new plant will fractionate plasma through to the intermediate product stage. The purification, inactivation and sterile filling stages for the different proteins will be performed at Grifols' existing facilities at Parets del Valles, which have already been adapted to absorb this increased level of production.
The new plant will use the very latest technology and will make maximum use of automation. Grifols Engineering S.A., a group company which specializes in the engineering of biotechnological and pharmaceutical processes, has designed the new facilities and will manage the construction project. The plant will also serve as a model for the future construction of another fractionation plant in the United States (San Marcos, Texas) due to start in 2014, and delivering a maximum capacity of 4 million liters.
The new plant forms part of the 433 million euro investment plan for the period 2008-2012, approved at the end of 2007 by the Board of Directors. Key features of this investment plan, which is running to schedule, include the new intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) production plant in Los Angeles, completed in 2010 and now at the validation stage, together with the new plasma testing laboratory in San Marcos, Texas, also completed in 2010 and at the validation stage.
This means that Grifols has completed over 90% of the projects included in the investment plan for the period, projects which are designed to underpin the company's growth plans for the period 2014-2018/2020.
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