Grifols plasma donation center under construction in East Albany

ALBANY — Grifols, a global health care company, will expand its Albany presence later this year when it opens a plasma donation collection center in East Albany.

“Grifols operates 160 centers in the country. We have one in Albany, and we are about to have two,” said Vlasta Hakes, spokeswoman for Grifols.

Hakes said the construction and set-up of the new center will be an initial investment of approximately $4.4 million, and following its opening in either July or August, that it will ultimately contribute more than $3 million each year to the Albany economy through donor fees, payroll and other operating expenses.

Grifols is a producer of protein therapies for patients with conditions that rely on plasma based treatments to survive. The system begins with the collection of source plasma and continues all the way through to the finished product. Since 2002, Grifols has steadily built up its presence throughout the U.S. The annual plasma collection exceeds 6.5 million liters, the company says.

A TPR Grifols site already exists at 1308 W. Broad Ave., taking in donors six days of the week who are willing to provide plasma. The East Albany location, which will be a Biomat USA, Inc. center, is under construction at 2438 Clark Ave. adjacent to a former Verizon store.

Dr. Tibor Gyorfi, who has been at the current Albany center since 2014, describes the health screening process of a donor as one that goes “from head to toe.” After the collection process, which takes about 90 minutes for return donors, plasma is put into a plastic bottle and frozen. After testing comes back, collections are shipped to manufacturing facilities.

“(The donations) are pooled together, so one unit can compromise an entire batch,” he said.

Even if someone fails a screening and cannot donate, they can be referred to medical resources to help them. Payments are made to donors on a varying scale, Gyorfi said.

The existing center brings people in from Albany and surrounding counties. Gyorfi added his time at the center has been well spent, and that the work force is well organized.

“It’s been a pleasure to work there … It has been very interesting. (The current center has) a caring staff and our percentage of return donors is the highest number of return donors than other centers in our region,” he said. “There could be other reasons, but I think it is because (the center) has a friendly staff (that) they come back.”

Grifols says collected plasma is tested and fractionated to obtain the individual plasma proteins used in its therapeutic medicines. The proteins are then individually purified and subjected to a series of viral inactivation and viral removal steps before being measured out into unit doses and packaged.

Hakes said the same donor can be brought in up to twice a week, and due to safety concerns, donations are only used for manufacturing purposes from a donor who has given at least twice — highlighting the need for donors to contribute to the 130-1,200 donations needed to treat one patient for one year who might have ailments including blood clotting problems or immunosuppression.

“It takes a lot of plasma to get the proteins to treat a patient … If a donor has already come in once (and does not return), it is usually destroyed,” she said.

Hakes said the new center will initially employ 25 people from the community, with expectations to increase to 45 employees as the center expands its operations. Employees undergo training on procedures at the collection centers.

Grifols said the fractionation and production processes are carried out at four different facilities in Spain, Clayton, N.C., Los Angeles and Melville, N.Y. All of these facilities operate in accordance with current Good Manufacturing Practice and are FDA-licensed and certified by the European Union health authorities. The four different facilities allow the fractionation of a maximum of 8.5 million liters of plasma per year, officials said.

For more information, visit grifolsplasma.com.