- The country, with an increasing immunoglobulin (Ig) usage
rate, currently imports about 85% of its Ig demand for patients in
Canada who rely on this lifesaving
plasma-protein therapy
- Building on its investment in a large-scale fractionation
facility in Montreal, Grifols will
manufacture plasma sourced in Canada to provide finished product exclusively
for Canadian Blood Services to help it reach at least 50% Ig
self-sufficiency for Canadians
- Under a 15-year agreement with options to renew, an
incremental 2.4 million grams of Ig will be provided annually for
Canadian patients and Canadian Blood Services, with pricing in line
with Western market values and subject to periodic reviews
- Once more Grifols demonstrates global leadership forging
alliances between the plasma industry and the public sector as the
best way to ensure domestic plasma self-sufficiency
BARCELONA, Spain, Sept. 7,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Grifols (MCE: GRF) (MCE: GRF.P)
(NASDAQ: GRFS), a global leader in plasma medicines with more than
110 years contributing to improve the health and well-being of
people, today announced it has signed a pioneering long-term
agreement with Canadian Blood Services, Canada's national blood authority, to greatly
increase the country's self-sufficiency in immunoglobulin (Ig)
medicines, essential plasma-protein therapies used to treat a wide
range of immunodeficiencies and other medical conditions.
It's the first-ever agreement of its kind and will ensure
Canadian plasma is processed into Ig medicines on Canadian soil for
the exclusive needs of the thousands of patients in the country who
critically depend on these lifesaving therapies.
Canada has a high Ig usage rate
and currently needs to import as much as 85% of its Ig, with demand
growing an average of 5-8% annually.
The collaboration agreement with Canadian Blood Services, part
of Grifols' long-term global growth strategy, will combine with the
work already being done by Canadian Blood Services to accelerate
Canada's Ig self-sufficiency rate
from 15% to 50% in the shortest time possible.
Under the agreement, Grifols will work with Canadian Blood
Services to steadily increase sourcing of the Canadian plasma
necessary so that volumes eventually reach 2.4 million grams of Ig
medicines annually by 2026.
Over the life of the 15-year renewable contract, Ig pricing will
be in line with Western market values and subject to periodic
reviews.
Grifols' newly built, state-of-the-art Montreal plant is expected to start operations
in 2024 and be fully operational sometime in 2026, when the company
will become the only large-scale commercial manufacturer of plasma
products in Canada. Until then,
production will take place at its site in Clayton, N.C.
Signaling its long-term commitment to the Canadian market,
Grifols in 2020 invested over USD 400
million in its Montreal
facilities, including a fractionation plant with a capacity of 1.5
million liters annually and two purification plants. Since then
Grifols has been expanding and converting the installations. In
early 2022, Grifols acquired its first donation center in
Canada, in Winnipeg (province of Manitoba).
"Grifols is committed to helping Canada on its self-sufficiency journey to
ensure patients in Canada receive
the life-sustaining plasma medicines they need," said Víctor
Grifols Deu, co-CEO of Grifols. "We will contribute our deep
knowledge of the Canadian market and our decades of
industry-leading experience collecting plasma and producing
medicines that adhere to the highest standards of quality and
safety."
Added Raimon Grifols, co-CEO of Grifols: "One key lesson from
the pandemic is the need to establish the strongest possible
domestic healthcare infrastructures that can reliably and
sustainably provide critical plasma medicines to patients."
"With Grifols, Canada has an
agreement to develop a critically needed end-to-end national supply
chain for immunoglobulins," stated Dr. Graham D. Sher, CEO Canadian Blood Services.
"This will improve sufficiency, protect our national blood system
and ensure a domestic supply of immunoglobulins that patients in
Canada can count on."
The alliance between Grifols and Canadian Blood Services builds
on their longstanding relationship as well as the more than three
decades Grifols has provided plasma medicines to Canadian patients.
In addition to the new agreement, Grifols will continue providing
contract manufacturing services to Canadian Blood Services.
The agreement with Canadian Blood Services is the most recent in
a series of initiatives that Grifols has underway to help countries
and regions increase self-sufficiency in plasma medicines.
Increasingly Grifols' leadership is showing that alliances between
the plasma industry and the public sector are crucial to ensuring
domestic plasma security. The company's vast expertise comes from
its leading global network of more than 400 plasma donation centers
and the most advanced plasma manufacturing facilities, all
operations renowned for their quality, safety and excellence.
Canadian Blood Services operates with a national scope,
infrastructure and governance that make it unique within Canadian
healthcare. In the domain of blood, plasma and stem cells, it
provides services for patients on behalf of all provincial and
territorial governments except Quebec.
About Grifols
Grifols is a global healthcare company
founded in Barcelona in 1909
committed to improving the health and well-being of people around
the world. A leader in essential plasma-derived medicines and
transfusion medicine, the company develops, produces and provides
innovative healthcare services and solutions in more than 110
countries.
Patient needs and our ever-growing knowledge of many chronic,
rare and prevalent conditions, at times life-threatening, drive our
innovation in plasma-based therapies and other biopharmaceuticals
to enhance quality of life. Grifols is focused on treating
conditions across a broad range of therapeutic areas: immunology,
hepatology and intensive care, pulmonology, hematology, neurology
and infectious diseases.
A pioneer in the plasma industry, Grifols continues to grow its
network of donation centers, the world's largest with over 400
across North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East and China.
As a recognized leader in transfusion medicine, Grifols offers a
comprehensive portfolio of solutions designed to enhance safety
from donation to transfusion, in addition to clinical diagnostic
technologies. We provide high-quality biological supplies for
life-science research, clinical trials, and for manufacturing
pharmaceutical and diagnostic products. In addition, the company
supplies tools, information and services that enable hospitals,
pharmacies and healthcare professionals to efficiently deliver
expert medical care.
Grifols, with more than 27,000 employees in more than 30
countries and regions, is committed to a sustainable business model
that sets the standard for continuous innovation, quality, safety,
and ethical leadership.
In 2021, Grifols' economic impact in its core countries of
operation was EUR 7.7 billion. The
company also generated 141,500 jobs, including indirect and
induced.
The company's class A shares are listed on the Spanish Stock
Exchange, where they are part of the Ibex-35 (MCE: GRF). Grifols
non-voting class B shares are listed on the Mercado Continuo
(MCE:GRF.P) and on the U.S. NASDAQ through ADRs (NASDAQ: GRFS).
For more information, please visit grifols.com.
LEGAL DISCLAIMER
The facts and figures
contained in this report that do not refer to historical data are
"future projections and assumptions". Words and expressions such as
"believe", "hope", "anticipate", "predict", "expect", "intend",
"should", "will seek to achieve", "it is estimated", "future" and
similar expressions, in so far as they relate to the Grifols group,
are used to identify future projections and assumptions. These
expressions reflect the assumptions, hypotheses, expectations and
predictions of the management team at the time of writing this
report, and these are subject to a number of factors that mean that
the actual results may be materially different. The future results
of the Grifols group could be affected by events relating to its
own activities, such as a shortage of supplies of raw materials for
the manufacture of its products, the appearance of competitor
products on the market, or changes to the regulatory framework of
the markets in which it operates, among others. At the date of
compiling this report, the Grifols group has adopted the necessary
measures to mitigate the potential impact of these events. Grifols,
S.A. does not accept any obligation to publicly report, revise or
update future projections or assumptions to adapt them to events or
circumstances subsequent to the date of writing this report, except
where expressly required by the applicable legislation. This
document does not constitute an offer or invitation to buy or
subscribe shares in accordance with the provisions of the following
Spanish legislation: Royal Legislative Decree 4/2015, of 23
October, approving recast text of Securities Market Law;
Royal Decree Law 5/2005, of 11 March
and/or Royal Decree 1310/2005, of 4
November, and any regulations developing this legislation. In
addition, this document does not constitute an offer of purchase,
sale or exchange, or a request for an offer of purchase, sale or
exchange of securities, or a request for any vote or approval in
any other jurisdiction. The information included in this document
has not been verified nor reviewed by the external auditors of the
Grifols group.
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