Grifols lays the first stone of the new plant in Lliçà de Vall

BarcelonaGrifols already has on the horizon the start of operations at the new production center in Lliçà de Vall (Vallès Oriental). The Catalan multinational in the plasma-derived medicines sector laid the first stone this Wednesday of the Vallès plant, specialized in plasma fractionation and the production of derivatives. The new facilities will represent an investment of 160 million euros "in a first phase", as the company announced last summer, and will add approximately 400 new employees to the company's workforce, which already has around 4,700 employees in Spain.

The event was attended by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, as well as the Minister of Industry and Tourism, Jordi Hereu; the Minister of Research and Universities of the Generalitat, Núria Montserrat, and the mayor of Lliçà, Xavier Castillejo. Also present were the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Grifols, Raimon Grifols, and directors Víctor Grifols Deu, Albert Grifols Coma-Cros, and Tomás Dagá. In his speech, Sánchez highlighted the "qualitative leap" that the new plant represents for the Catalan multinational, and committed to "continue betting on the pharmaceutical industry, which is so important in Catalonia and Spain".

The new plant, according to the Catalan pharmaceutical company, will increase its plasma treatment capacity by three million liters. Additionally, there will be spaces for logistics, an analysis laboratory, and an area dedicated to Grifols Engineering, the company's division focused on biopharmaceutical engineering. Once completed, the facility in Lliçà will connect with Grifols' complex in Parets del Vallès. With this new addition, the multinational will bring together more than 3,700 employees in Vallès Oriental.

"Pharmaceutical" autonomy

According to the vice-president of Grifols' board of directors, Raimon Grífols, the start of construction of the Lliçà plant "symbolizes Grifols' commitment to continue growing from the territory, with an industrial vision." Once operational, the factory "will expand the production of plasma-derived medicines in Europe" and will serve to "reinforce the strategic autonomy" of the continent in a segment of the pharmaceutical market hitherto dominated by the United States, a country that concentrates 65% of global production.

The Catalan blood-derived products company adds the new project in the Principality to the complex of Grifols Egypt for Plasma Derivatives (GEPD), the joint venture between the Catalan company and the health authority of the North African country, which has had the green light from the European Medicines Agency since December to market the plasma derivatives manufactured there in all European markets.

A 'smart' plant

The Lliçà de Vall plant, once operational, will have "a clear focus on sustainability", according to the company. According to Grifols, the new facilities will cover 100% of its operations with electricity from renewable sources, and it is "studying" the integration of a biogas plant at the center to reduce the use of natural gas. With these practices, among others, Grifols expects to reduce the factory's emissions by 60% and water consumption by 20%, all with the aim of "limiting the environmental footprint" of biopharmaceutical activity in the country.