Innovation and Flexibility Drive Success During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Grifols Recombinant Protein CDMO is focused on the same flexibility and problem-solving spirit we use daily to rapidly produce custom proteins to battle the current pandemic.

In these exceptional circumstances, what we do matters more than ever.

At Grifols Recombinant Protein CDMO, we produce recombinant proteins for further manufacture that are used in assays to screen donated blood for viral infections, as well as develop manufacturing processes for novel therapeutics. In 2020, we directed resources toward developing new antigens for SARS-CoV-2 immunoassays. While pursuing this crucial endeavor, we also took comprehensive measures to ensure shipments of products and the provision of services. 

As always, our goal is to identify the best approach to accelerate project timelines while ensuring the highest quality and safety. 

This strategy is being applied to all projects tackled by Grifols Recombinant
Protein CDMO. We leverage our expertise to design molecules for better expression and improved immunoassays. We have shifted resources to accommodate the urgent need for COVID-related products and formed new alliances to collaborate on the development of molecules to provide the final products sought by our customers.

Part of this strategy includes constant monitoring of the supply chain and ensuring the continuity of all important shipments. We have taken concrete steps to ensure the security of supply for the materials we need to produce our products and to maintain timelines and delivery milestones for process development and manufacturing services. Our CDMO business communicates closely with our customers to accelerate shipments and mitigate delivery delays.

We have taken concrete steps to ensure the security of supply for the materials we need to produce our products and to maintain timelines and delivery milestones for process development and manufacturing services.

Customer needs are constantly evolving, so finding a CDMO with the flexibility to evolve together is crucial.

The biopharmaceutical industry has been challenged to discover and develop new diagnostic tests, treatments, and vaccines to help resolve the pandemic. Grifols Recombinant Protein CDMO embraces this challenge as we collaborate with our customers to develop and manufacture new molecules. 

Open collaboration and the ability to respond and execute quickly remain critical to the success of any project, especially in the current environment; routine communication is the key to building and maintaining strong, long-term relationships with our customers. This ongoing relationship between our team and our customers ensures that changes on both sides are communicated early and clearly. We discuss challenges and potential impacts to both businesses and collaboratively establish risk-mitigation strategies. Our record of 100% on-time in-full delivery attests to the success of this cooperative approach. 

Our employees drive the success of Grifols Recombinant Protein CDMO. 

They are talented, experienced, and excited by the opportunity to help customers bring solutions to patients through a creative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary approach — to apply the knowledge and skills honed over decades of precise manufacturing, analytics, and validation work to support customers with new and complex protein programs.  

During these challenging and unprecedented times, our employees have adapted to the new demands of social distancing while continuing to meet all the expectations of our customers. We value their flexibility and dedication to maintain our operations and have taken every precaution to ensure their safety. In addition to social distancing solutions, we have provided personal protective equipment and implemented flexible work hours.

Grifols has always taken a long-term view, and our business processes are built with that in mind.

We understand that in our industry the requirements and scope of individual projects can change quickly with new data, clinical trial results, and market factors. Robust business processes and a culture of continuous process improvement provide a solid foundation to respond to immediate needs and cultivate long-term opportunities. These measures — along with our GMP manufacturing facility that allows for future process-fit flexibility, easy segregation, and rapid process changeover — allow Grifols Recombinant CDMO to remain operational through this pandemic and beyond. 

Paul Magreta

Paul Magreta has over 20 years of experience in the design, start-up and operation of biopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities, and is currently responsible for developing the recombinant protein CDMO business at Grifols in Emeryville, California. Prior to Grifols, Paul led Global Process Engineering at Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics, and had previously worked in Process Development, Manufacturing Sciences and Technology, and Process Engineering at Genentech. He has a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan.

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