Grifols donations of blood clotting factor helping people with hemophilia globally

BARCELONA, Spain, April 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Grifols, one of the world's three top providers of plasma-derived medicines to treat life-threatening diseases, today announced that its long-term global initiative to providing treatment to people with hemophilia in developing regions has surpassed 100 million international units (IUs) in donated blood clotting factor, a protein in blood that controls bleeding.

Grifols is working to enhance the lives of the roughly 100,000 people around the world who have hemophilia but receive little or no treatment. The company is halfway into an eight-year initiative in which it has pledged a minimum of 200 million IUs to the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) Humanitarian Aid Program through 2021.

According to the WFH, Grifols full donations will secure a projected average of 10,300 doses to treat acute bleeds in 6,000 patients per year in developing regions through 2021. Over the last two years, these donations have treated more than 5,000 patients and more than 10,000 acute bleeds.

"World Hemophilia Day reminds us that there are tens of thousands of people who live with hemophilia in many countries and don't have access to care and treatment," said Victor Grifols Deu, co-CEO of Grifols. "Here at Grifols we're proud to partner with the WFH in its dedication to helping ensure that hemophilia patients in developing regions receive critical and often life-saving medicines. It's about people helping people."

The company has also created the Grifols Humanitarian Awards in Hemophilia to encourage health care providers, medical and paramedical centers as well as hemophilia societies to support education and access to treatment for the approximately 400,000 people in developed and developing regions who have this inherited condition. Celebrating the first edition of the award, Grifols will award four €50,000 grants to eligible proposals, naming the recipients in early 2020.

The Grifols Humanitarian Awards complement the company's Martín Villar Hemostasis Awards that support the investigation of hemophilia and von Willebrand disease. Since establishing this award in 2007, Grifols has conferred approximately €640,000 euros to 28 researchers.

"Taking care of existing patients with a bleeding disorder is critically important," said Alain Weill, President of the WFH. "But we also have to look at those people who are suffering and haven't been diagnosed. We have to find these individuals, bring them into the community and provide them with the support they deserve."

About the WFH Humanitarian Aid Program
For many developing countries, product donations are often the only source of treatment product for patients with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders. The WFH receives requests, many urgent in nature, from our national member organizations (NMOs) and from recognized hemophilia
treatment centers (HTC) around the world. An increasing number of collaborators within the global bleeding disorders community have accepted the challenge of providing a sustainable and predictable supply of donated products.

For more information, visit www.wfh.org.

About Grifols
Grifols is a global healthcare company founded in Barcelona in 1940, committed to improving the health and well-being of people around the world. Its four divisions - Bioscience, Diagnostic, Hospital and Bio Supplies - develop, produce and market innovative solutions and services in more than 100 countries.

As pioneers in the field of the plasma science, Grifols is one of the largest plasma companies, with a growing network of donation centers worldwide. It develops this plasma into essential medicines used to treat rare, chronic and, at times, life-threatening conditions. As a recognized leader in transfusion medicine, Grifols also offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions designed to enhance safety from donation through transfusion. And the company supplies tools, information and services that enable hospitals, pharmacies and healthcare professionals to efficiently deliver expert medical care.

Grifols, with more than 21,000 employees in 30 countries, is committed to a sustainable business model that sets the standard for continuous innovation, quality, safety and ethical leadership in the industry.

The company's class A shares are listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange, where they are part of the Ibex-35 (MCE: GRF). Grifols non-voting class B shares are listed on the Mercado Continuo (MCE: GRF.P) and on the U.S. NASDAQ through ADRs (NASDAQ: GRFS).

For more information, visit grifols.com.

SOURCE Grifols

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