(Reuters) – Spanish pharmaceutical company Grifols has struck a 15-year renewable collaboration agreement with Canada’s national blood authority to increase the supply of immunoglobulins (Ig) in the country, the company said on Wednesday.
Under the agreement, Grifols, which uses blood plasma to make medicines, will work with Canadian Blood Services (CBS) to also source the plasma in Canada.
As a result, volumes of Ig plasma-protein therapies used to treat a wide range of immunodeficiencies and other medical conditions, should reach 2.4 million grams by 2026, accounting for about a fourth of the country’s needs.
The project entails setting up a plasma collection network in Canada, with Ig to be manufactured in North Carolina and then at Grifols’ newly-built Montreal plant that is expected to start operations in 2024 and be fully operational in 2026.
By then, Grifols should become the only large-scale commercial manufacturer of plasma products in Canada.
Canada has a high Ig usage rate and imports as much as 85% of its Ig, with demand growing by 5-8% annually.
(Reporting by Joao Manuel Mauricio in Gdansk, editing by Andrei Khalip)
