17 August 2018 - - Spanish healthcare company Grifols (MCE: GRF) (NASDAQ: GRFS) has received approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to relocate existing immunodiagnostic manufacturing operations to a new Consolidated Manufacturing Facility in Emeryville, California, the company said.

This first submission enables commercial good manufacturing practices Fermentation, Purification, and Bulk Fill operations in the facility and the production of one recombinant HCV antigen.

Additional submissions to the FDA are planned to relocate the production of other licensed recombinant protein products. 

The transition is targeted for completion in mid-2019, pending the FDA approvals for the licensed antigens.

Once the transition is complete, Grifols will have transferred 21 products to CMF.

As part of Grifols' investment for future growth, the company designed, built, and validated the USD80 m, state-of-the-art, biological manufacturing facility in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The new facility has 25,000 square feet of GMP manufacturing space, including two fermentation suites for E. coli and yeast processes, three purification suites, and a bulk fill area.

Automation systems provide control of manufacturing processes and a central data historian monitors and stores all data generated in the facility, including the warehouse and utility systems.

In addition, Grifols has recently begun an engineering project to convert the 9,000 square foot expansion space within CMF into cell culture and purification suites for production of recombinant proteins expressed in mammalian cells.

The facility will use disposable technology and is expected to be complete in late 2019.

The new Consolidated Manufacturing Facility, along with the development capabilities in the laboratories and pilot plant, provides a range of process scale and flexibility for the current portfolio of products and the R and D pipeline, as well as supports development and manufacturing services to third parties for recombinant protein production.

Grifols is a global healthcare company with more than 75 years of legacy dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people around the world.

The company produces essential plasma-derived medicines for patients and provides hospitals and healthcare professionals with the tools, information and services they need to help them deliver expert medical care.

Grifols' three main divisions Bioscience, Diagnostic and Hospital develop, produce and market innovative products and services that are available in more than 100 countries.

With a network of 225 plasma donation centers, Grifols is a producer of plasma-derived medicines used to treat rare, chronic and, at times, life-threatening conditions.

A specialist in transfusion medicine, Grifols offers a portfolio of diagnostic products designed to support safety from donation through transfusion.

The Hospital Division provides intravenous therapies, clinical nutrition products and hospital pharmacy systems, including systems that automate drug compounding and control drug inventory.

Grifols is headquartered in Barcelona, Spain and has 18,300 employees in 30 countries.

In 2017, sales exceeded 4,300 m euros. Grifols demonstrates its strong commitment to advancing healthcare by allocating a significant portion of its annual income to research, development and innovation.