CLAYTON — Grifols, a global biotherapeutics company with already more than 2,000 employees in North Carolina, is investing $351.6 million to build a specialized blood plasma facility in Johnston County, it was announced today.

The uptick: around 300 new jobs to be created from 2024-2028 with an average annual salary of $69,000 – compared to Johnston County’s average of $40,000.

The company is also building a $120 million purification and filling facility in Clayton that will mainly produce immune globulin and factor VIII protein therapies. The three-story, 150,000-square-foot facility, is scheduled to begin operating in 2022.

The expansions are making the Clayton site one of the world’s largest manufacturing plants for plasma-derived medicines. With more than 1,600 employees, the site is the largest employer in Johnston County.

“Companies like Grifols continue to choose expansion in North Carolina because our workforce can meet their needs of this important facility,” said Governor Cooper, in a statement. “During this public health crisis, we have seen the value of manufacturing close to home and this expansion means new, life-saving medicines will be manufactured in Clayton.”

The company received federal state incentives valued at approximately $5.6 million, and local incentives from Johnston County Council at approximately $19.3 million.

The Economic Investment Committee (EIC) said the project is expected to increase North Carolina’s gross domestic product by approximately $1.7 billion; and net state revenue by approximately $57.7 billion.

Grifols’ growing NC footptint

Grifols is a global healthcare company founded in Barcelona in 1909. It has more than 24,000 employees in 30 countries and regions, and its products are sold in more than 100 countries through four divisions: bioscience, diagnostic, hospital and bio supplies.

In North Carolina, its footprint has grown in recent years. Grifols opened a $400 million plasma-fractionation plant in Clayton in 2014. It also has a bioscience division headquarters facility in Research Triangle Park that employs more than 400 people.

The company is known for its work in plasma-derived and transfusion medicines. It’s currently testing a potential COVID-19 therapy derived from the blood plasma of patients who have recovered from the coronavirus infection. It is collecting convalescent plasma from eligible COVID-19 survivors across the country — with 13 of its plasma collection centers in North Carolina participating in the effort. Convalescent plasma from donors will be manufactured into a hyper-immune therapy specific to COVID-19 at the company’s manufacturing campus in Clayton.

Grifols also operates a network of donation centers worldwide and transforms collected plasma into medicines to treat rare, chronic and, at times, life-threatening conditions.

Plasma, the “water” portion of blood, is rich in proteins, some of which have therapeutic value. Grifols uses a process called fractionation that separates proteins so they can be purified and sterilized for use in medicines that restore or replace missing proteins.’

 

Grifols pursues development of coronavirus treatment based on blood plasma