Grifols strengthens its presence in the Chinese market

Barcelona (ACN).- The Catalan pharmaceutical company Grifols, specialised in the production of plasma derivates, has enhanced its presence in the Chinese market with a cooperation agreement with the Shanghai Blood Bank. The objective of this agreement is to promote blood genotyping research in China and represents the first project of this kind in the country. Under the agreement, the Shanghai Blood Bank will use the BLOODchip genetic test from Grifols in blood transfusion compatibility studies. BLOODchip is an innovative molecular biology test, developed by Progenika Biopharma and marketed globally by Grifols, which also provides blood units. The Chinese institution is one of China’s leading blood transfusion centres; it serves over 20 million people and receives more than 300,000 donations per year. The institution has the country’s most advanced blood typing laboratory.

The agreement between Grifols and the Shanghai Blood Bank expands the involvement of the Catalan company in Asia. Grifols’ sales in China grew by 30% in 2011 due to the sale of one of the company’s plasma products, albumin, and by the good results of the Transfusion Medicine business, which is the focus of the aforementioned agreement. Grifols also promoted its Diagnostic Division, which is specialised in in-vitro diagnostics and accounts for 8.9% of the sales (in 2011).

According to Víctor Grifols, the company’s President, “China is a priority market for the company and the immuno-hematology area is our main market. This agreement demonstrates the company’s commitment to other markets, apart from the United States and Europe”.

The Bioscience Division develops and manufactures equipment, instrumentation and reagents for transfusion medicine such as blood typing tests or donor-patient pre-transfusion compatibility tests. Hospital blood banks, transfusion centres and clinical immuno-hematology laboratories use its products.

A pioneering Catalan company since the 1940s

The Catalan company Grifols was created in 1940 when a father and his two sons set up Grifols’ Laboratories. Due to its activity and their investigations, their products set the base to open the first private blood bank in Spain in 1945, the ‘Hemobanco’. Its industrial production began in 1952.

Nowadays Grifols markets and distributes products in more than 90 countries and its subsidiaries operate directly in 24 countries such as the United States, Spain, Australia, China, Switzerland, Canada or Brazil. The Catalan company, which employs 11.470 people, has traded on the stock market since 2006 and in June 2011 its capital share rose to €114.91 million.