Grifols

Grifols, S.A. is a global healthcare company and leading producer of plasma-derived medicines founded in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1909. With a workforce of over 23,800 employees, Grifols serves more than 110 countries and regions and maintains a direct presence in over than 30.[3]

Principally a producer of blood plasma–based products and other biopharmaceuticals, the company also operates in transfusion medicine, supplying devices, instruments and reagents for clinical testing laboratories, as well as clinical diagnostic technologies. Furthermore, it provides biological supplies for life-science research, clinical trials and the manufacturing of pharmaceutical and diagnostic products. It has a portfolio on four therapeutic areas: immunology, infectious diseases, pulmonology and critical care.

History

Grifols began in 1909 when hematologist and scientist Josep Antoni Grífols i Roig founded a clinical analysis laboratory in Barcelona: the Instituto Central de Análisis Clínicos, Bacteriológicos y Químicos, a precursor to Laboratorios Grifols. In Spain, Grífols i Roig patented the first instrument for carrying out indirect blood transfusions, the transfusion flebula. Post-war, Grífols i Roig and his sons, Josep Antoni Grífols i Lucas, a hematologist, and Víctor Grífols i Lucas, a chemist and pharmacist, founded Laboratorios Grifols, which began the start of the business dedicated to clinical analysis and the preparation of freeze-dried plasma.

In 1952, for the first time, the results of a systematic application of the

Acquisitions

Grifols acquired its first group of plasma donation centers (43 in the U.S.) in 2002, taking over the company SeraCare, now known as Biomat. The following year, Grifols acquired Alpha Therapeutic Corporation-Mitsubishi, including its plasma fractionation plant in Los Angeles, California. In 2011, Grifols acquired the North American company Talecris Biotherapeutics, making Grifols the third-largest manufacturer of plasma-derived medicines in the world.

Grifols acquired Novartis' blood transfusion diagnostics unit, based in Emeryville, California, in 2014. It was a part of Chiron, which had been acquired by Novartis in 2006. Grifols grew its transfusion medicine business with the acquisition of Hologic’s transfusion unit in 2017, leading the company’s creation of reagents and instrumentation based on NAT (nucleic acid testing) technology.[7]

In 2018, Grifols acquired the German company Haema and its network of donation centers and, in 2019, Grifols grew its network of donation centers with the addition of Interstate Blood Bank Inc.[8] Today, the company has approximately 400 donation centers worldwide, most of them located in the U.S.[9]

Following a major equity investment in 2015, Grifols acquired the remaining shares of Alkahest in 2020 to help enhance the company’s discovery research and development to identify therapies based upon an understanding of the human plasma proteome.[10] In 2021, the company acquired the remaining capital of GigaGen, a U.S. biotechnology company specialized in the early discovery and development of recombinant polyclonal antibodies, after having acquired a significant stake in 2017. In 2022, Grifols acquired Biotest, a German manufacturer and provider of plasma-derived medicines.[11]

Strategic Alliances

Grifols has pursued public-private alliances around the world.[12] In 2020, Grifols signed an agreement with Egypt’s National Service Projects Organization to establish Grifols Egypt for Plasma Derivatives, a joint venture building the first integrated platform for sourcing and producing plasma medicines in Africa and the Middle East.[13] This was followed by a long-term agreement with Canadian Blood Services in 2022, to help accelerate immunoglobulin self-sufficiency in Canada.[14] Grifols also sought to strengthen and enhance China’s healthcare system by entering into a strategic alliance with Haier Group in late 2023 to further develop the Chinese plasma market, building on a strategic alliance it had established with Shanghai RAAS, a leading Chinese company in the plasma-derivatives sector, in 2020.[15]

Between January and March 2024, short seller fund Gotham City Research published several reports questioning Grifols financial accounting.[16][17]

type	Public
traded as	bmad: ES0171996012 GRF nasdaq: GRFS
isin	isin: ES0171996087
key people	Nacho Abia (CEO)
industry	Healthcare
products	Plasma-derived medicines to treat chronic, rare and prevalent diseases, tools and services for hospitals, pharmacies and healthcare professionals.
revenue	€7.2 billion (2024)
num employees	More than 23,800 (2024)
homepage	grifols.com
foundation	1909
hq location	Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain)
footnotes	‡R1R‡ ‡R2R‡

History

Stock Listings

Acquisitions

Strategic Alliances

Main products

Industrial operations

Research

Controversy

External links

References