Pharmaceutical giant Grífols acquires 24 plasma centres in US

The Catalan multinational Grífols has closed an agreement in order to buy 24 plasma centres from the United States company Biotest for 244 million euros. The pharmaceutical giant already had 190 such centres in the US.

This latest transaction already has the authorization of different regulating authorities. With this acquisition, financed by its own resources, it now has a total of 249 donation centres in the US and Europe.

Plasma is the firm’s main raw material. These centres mean it has more at its disposal in order to obtain proteins for therapeutic purposes.

Plasma specialty

Grifols specializes in producing blood plasma based products, and is not only European leader in this field, but also the largest producer worldwide. Its Bioscience Division sales grew by 5.8% to 808 million euros which, according to the company, is “evidence of the solid demand for main plasma proteins.”

Expansion plan

The purchase of the centres is in line with the company's strategic plan, allowing it to strengthen its global position in obtaining plasma by increasing and diversifying its network of donation centres. 

In addition, in conjunction with the new investments plan of Grífols' Bioscience Division for the period 2016-2021, it will contribute to increase the availability of plasma products to meet the growing demand.

The fight against AIDS

As well as specializing in blood plasma products, as well as devices, instruments, and more, the Catalan multinational also signed an agreement with the AIDS research institute IrisCaixa in April this year. Both entities are to join forces in the fight against HIV.

Grifols will contribute 1.5 million euros on an annual basis for five years for research into possible treatments for AIDS and HIV, as well as the biomedical investigation into other infectious, oncological, and other diseases.     

Revenue growth 

In the first three months of the year, Grífol’s revenue grew to 1,023 million euros, marking an increase of 7.4% compared to the same period in 2017.