The plasma-derived medicines manufacturer announced an agreement to build a manufacturing plant in northern Africa for Soludia Maghreb, a provider of hemodialysis solutions, headquartered in Morocco.
Under the agreement, Grifols will develop, build and automate the main process equipment for Soludia’s manufacturing line that will produce intravenous solutions bags.
Grifols' co-CEOs, Victor Grifols Deu and Raimon Grifols suggested the agreement was a ‘milestone’ for business growth, while the CEO of Soludia Maghreb, Abdelaziz Rezkaoui, said that “This partnership is only the start of a long-term collaboration in Morocco and Africa.”
The plant is expected to begin operations next year.
Last year, Grifols purchased Biotest US, a geographical unit of the German-based Biotech AG in an $286m (€247m) deal, gaining access to more than 20 plasma collection facilities and establishing its presence in North America.
Going after the growing demand for plasma-derived medicines
Grifols is looking to further invest in reinforcing its growth, with plans for €1.4bn ($1.57bn) worth of capital investments over the 2018-2022 period, in order to meet the growing demand for plasma-derived medicines.
The company made the above announcement along with that of the approval it received from the US Food and Drug Administration for Xembify (immune globulin subcutaneous, human- klhw), a treatment for primary immunodeficiencies.
Xembify will be launched in the US in the last quarter of 2019 while the company also awaits approvals from regulators in Canada, Europe and other markets.
In addition to that, the company announced an investment of €140m for a purification and sterile filling plant of immunoglobulins in flexible packaging in North Carolina, US. The plant is expected to be operational by 2022.