Grifols seals deal with US to develop treatment for coronavirus

Catalan global healthcare company Grifols has announced a new agreement with a number of federal public health agencies in the United States in order to help develop a treatment for coronavirus.

In a statement, the company said that among the US agencies it will work with is the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 

The aim is to collect plasma from recovering covid-19 patients, process it into a hyperimmune globulin, and then carry out preclinical and clinical studies to see if the therapy can be used to treat covid-19 disease.

"Grifols will volunteer its expertise and resources in the areas of plasma collection using its network of FDA-approved plasma donor centers; test and qualify donors in conjunction with other health agencies; process plasma into hyperimmune globulin in its purpose-built facility in Clayton, North Carolina, for the isolated processing of immune globulins to treat emerging infectious diseases," the company said in the statement.

More projects underway in Spain

The multinational said it is also working with hospitals in Spain on a clinical trial with inactivated plasma from recovered patients (methylene blue), and on clinical studies on the use of certain plasma-derived products to test their efficacy in the treatment of covid-19.

Grifols says it has also speeded up the development and validation of a proprietary technology able to detect the virus faster and with more accuracy than current methods, and it says the new method will be ready in the following weeks.