Grifols, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and ...

and

chemical A chemical substance is a form of matter having constant chemical composition and characteristic properties. Some references add that chemical substance cannot be separated into its constituent elements by physical separation methods, i.e., w ...

manufacturer. Principally a producer of

blood plasma Blood plasma is a light amber-colored liquid component of blood in which blood cells are absent, but contains proteins and other constituents of whole blood in suspension. It makes up about 55% of the body's total blood volume. It is the int ...

-based products, a field in which it is the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an leader and largest worldwide, the company also supplies devices, instruments, and

reagent In chemistry, a reagent ( ) or analytical reagent is a substance or compound added to a system to cause a chemical reaction, or test if one occurs. The terms ''reactant'' and ''reagent'' are often used interchangeably, but reactant specifies a ...

s for clinical testing

laboratories A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physi ...

Main products

Grifols is the major world supplier of

IVIG Immunoglobulin therapy is the use of a mixture of antibodies (normal human immunoglobulin or NHIG) to treat several health conditions. These conditions include primary immunodeficiency, immune thrombocytopenic purpura, chronic inflammatory ...

albumin Albumin is a family of globular proteins, the most common of which are the serum albumins. All the proteins of the albumin family are water- soluble, moderately soluble in concentrated salt solutions, and experience heat denaturation. Album ...

Factor VIII Factor VIII (FVIII) is an essential blood-clotting protein, also known as anti-hemophilic factor (AHF). In humans, factor VIII is encoded by the ''F8'' gene. Defects in this gene result in hemophilia A, a recessive X-linked coagulation disorder ...

and other plasma-derived products.

Main operations

In 2007 the company had 3.6 million litres per year of

blood fractionation Blood fractionation is the process of fractionating whole blood, or separating it into its component parts. This is typically done by centrifuging the blood. The resulting components are: * a clear solution of blood plasma in the upper p ...

capacity from three plants, one at Parets del Vallès near

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

in Spain (2.1 million litres per year), another in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

(1.5 million litres but being expanded to 2.2 million litres), and a site in

Clayton, North Carolina Clayton is a town in Johnston County, North Carolina, United States, and is considered a satellite town of Raleigh. As of 2010, Clayton's population was 16,116, up from 6,973 at the 2000 census. By 2019 the town's estimated population was 24,887. ...

. In the United States the company owns 230 plasmapheresis centres, where it collects around 5.8 million litres of plasma per year.

Ownership

Grifols was listed on the

Madrid Stock Exchange Bolsa de Madrid (; Madrid Stock Exchange) is the largest and most international of Spain's four regional stock exchanges (the others are located in Barcelona, Valencia, and Bilbao) that trade shares and convertible bonds and fixed income securiti ...

in May 2006. The stock became part of the IBEX 35 index in January 2008.

History

Grifols' origin lies in the laboratory founded in 1940 in

by Dr Josep A. Grífols Roig, a

hematologist Hematology ( always spelled haematology in British English) is the branch of medicine concerned with the study of the cause, prognosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases related to blood. It involves treating diseases that affect the produc ...

and scientist (although its origin dates back to the Instituto Central de Análisis Clínicos, a company founded in 1909 by Josep Antonio Grífols Roig, which will be a pioneer in Spain in clinical analysis and in the introduction of blood conservation and transfusion techniques). His son, Dr Josep A. Grifols Lucas was the first researcher to publish the plasmapheresis procedure in 1952. The company introduced its liquid IVIG product into the European market in the mid-1990s. Probitas Pharma, S.A. was incorporated with high limited liability under Spanish law on 22 June 1987; on 27 June 2005 the company changed its name to Grifols, S.A. In 2003 the company acquired certain assets of the

-based Alpha Therapeutic (US subsidiary of

Mitsubishi Pharma Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation is a Japanese pharmaceuticals company from Osaka, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings Corporation. was formed in 2001 from the merger of Mitsubishi-Tokyo Pharmaceuticals and Welfide Corporation. On ...

) as the basis of its American expansion. On May 17, 2006, Grifols securities were listed on Spain's Mercado Continuo. In 2009,

CSL Limited CSL Limited is an Australian multinational specialty biotechnology company that researches, develops, manufactures, and markets products to treat and prevent serious human medical conditions. CSL's product areas include blood plasma derivative ...

attempted to takeover Talecris Biotherapeutics (the former plasma business of Bayer HealthCare LLC, Biological Products Division) for $3,1 billion but was stopped by the Federal Trade Commission. On June 1, 2011, a year after announcing the $4 billion deal, Grifols completed a takeover of Talecris Biotherapeutics, headquartered in

Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park (RTP) is the largest research park in the United States, occupying in North Carolina and hosting more than 300 companies and 65,000 workers. The facility is named for its location relative to the three surrounding cities ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

, with over 2000 employees. Grifols acquired the blood transfusion diagnostics unit from

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-lo ...

in 2013 as a "platform for global expansion". This unit is based in

Emeryville, California Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The resident population was 12,905 ...

and was a part of

Chiron In Greek mythology, Chiron ( ; also Cheiron or Kheiron; ) was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren since he was called the "wisest and justest of all the centaurs". Biography Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology ...

acquired by Novartis in 2006. In 2015, the company acquired a 45% stake in

Alkahest In Renaissance alchemy, alkahest was the theorized "universal solvent". It was supposed to be capable of dissolving any other substance, including gold, without altering or destroying its fundamental components. Among its philosophical and sp ...

as part of planned co-development of "plasma-based products for the treatment of

cognitive decline Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affec ...

in aging and disorders of the CNS, including

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

." In 2020 Grifols acquired the remaining stock of Alkahest “bringing its ownership of Alkahest to 100%”. In December 2016, Grifols acquired

Hologic Hologic, Inc. is a medical technology company primarily focused on women’s health; it sells medical devices for diagnostics, surgery, and medical imaging. History In late November 2013, activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed a 12.5% stake in ...

s interest in their existing joint blood screening unit for $1.85 billion

Romanian immunoglobin supply collusion

In February 2022, the company and four others were sanctioned by the Romanian Competition Council(RCC) for having limited or interrupted the supply of essential immunoglobins with the goal of blackmailing the government into removing a tax on their blood products.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies listed on the Nasdaq Pharmaceutical companies of Spain Pharmaceutical companies established in 1940 Manufacturing companies based in Barcelona IBEX 35 Companies listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange Spanish brands Spanish companies established in 1940 Multinational companies headquartered in Spain