Grifols, a Spanish drugmaker, made waves on Wednesday with the announcement of a sweeping plan to improve its efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Unfortunately, this move will come at the cost of some 2,000 jobs in the United States. Nevertheless, Grifols is hopeful that the plan will result in a more streamlined and effective operation in the long run.
Grifols announced on Wednesday afternoon that they will be cutting jobs and implementing other cost-saving measures to save a whopping $428 million USD in 2023. This is a significant cost reduction when compared to their full-year 2022 costs.
Grifols has announced an ambitious realignment initiative that will begin in the first quarter of this year and be completed in the final quarters. The initiative will result in significant cost savings, set to be reflected in 2024 financial reports. The company is confident that the realignment will be a success and yield positive results.
Grifols has undergone a thorough review of its business and has made strategic decisions to optimize its financial performance and become more nimble and responsive in reaction to the ever-changing environment. Steven Mayer, executive chairperson of Grifols, commented on the decision, stating that these changes will help the company become more agile and better prepared for the future.
Grifols has implemented an operational improvement plan in three phases in order to optimize its plasma procurement operation. The first phase focuses on maintaining high levels of plasma while reducing the per-liter cost, which can be achieved by closing underperforming donor centers and digitizing on-site processes for the remaining centers.
Grifols, a U.S. company, is expecting to incur a hefty one-time expense of around $150 million in order to cover costs associated with job cuts, such as severance payments and advisory fees. This phase of downsizing is sure to have far-reaching impacts on the economy.
Grifols’ operational improvement plan aims to streamline corporate functions with centralized and automated processes, as well as the removal of duplicate posts. This move is expected to bring greater efficiencies in procurement, logistics, and facilities. Additionally, the plan is designed to enhance overall performance throughout the company.
Other Plasma Players Prosper
As Grifols seeks to bolster its competitive edge, rivals in the plasma industry have been enjoying a period of success. With their strategies paying off, these pharma companies have managed to stay ahead of the game and remain a formidable force in the market.
KalVista Pharmaceuticals, a Massachusetts-based company, has received regulatory guidance from the FDA this week for their investigational plasma kallikrein inhibitor sebetralstat. The FDA has stated that no efficacy trials will be required for a supplemental New Drug Application for the oral disintegrating tablet formulation of sebetralstat, making it one step closer to becoming an approved treatment option.
KalVista is leading the charge in treating hereditary angioedema (HAE) with their Phase III KONFIDENT study, which has already enrolled more than half of its target sample size for testing the potential of Sebetralstat. This innovative breakthrough could revolutionize the way HAE is treated.
On February 3rd, Takeda, one of the leading companies in the plasma industry, received an exciting update. The expanded approval for its HAE prophylactic Takhzyro (lanadelumab-flyo) was granted, providing even greater protection for those suffering from HAE. This is great news for both patients and the industry as a whole.
In an effort to bolster its presence in the pharmaceutical market, a Japanese multinational recently made a series of major investments. This included the licensing of a $1 billion colorectal cancer candidate, as well as the acquisition of a Nimbus subsidiary and its oral, selective allosteric tyrosine kinase 2 NDI-034858 for a staggering $4 billion. This drug is set to treat plaque psoriasis.