The Spanish multinational of blood products Grifols bought 25 plasma centers in the United States from BPL for 370 million dollars, thus ensuring an additional million liters of plasma per year.
As reported by the company on Monday, the transaction received the necessary regulatory approvals and will be financed with its own resources, without issuing debt.
The operation responds to Grifols’ strategy of expansion and diversification of access to plasma, a company that has a network made up of 344 plasma centers, of which 289 are in the United States, including the latter, and 55 in Europe.
The health crisis of COVID-19 has caused the volume of plasma donations to decrease, and plasma is the basis of the medicines produced by Grifols.
Thus, the company limited the impact on its net plasma supply despite COVID in 2020 to around 15%.
The current transaction contributes to continuing to strengthen Grifols’ integrated network of plasma centers, thereby maintaining its commitment to continue increasing the availability of plasma products to meet growing demand.
The firm said it is prepared for significant growth in plasma levels in 2021 as vaccination against covid advances and restrictions due to the pandemic decrease.
The multinational blood products company plans to open between 15 and 20 new plasma centers in 2021, several of them in Egypt, following the strategic alliance signed with the government of that country in November 2020.
Medicines derived from plasma are used for the treatment or prevention of serious disorders or diseases in various therapeutic areas such as pulmonology, hematology, immunology or neurology.
Grifols works to increase the supply of plasma and the therapies derived from it, and collaborates in calls to mobilize all qualified people to donate plasma, including both patients recovered from COVID-19 and those not affected by the virus, since its plasma is necessary to save lives.