Grifols Invests in Alkahest to Develop Plasma-Based Products
- By BSTQ Staff
Grifols, a global healthcare company and producer of plasma therapies, has made a major equity investment in Alkahest, a privately held biopharmaceutical company, to work together to develop novel plasma-based products for the treatment of cognitive decline in aging and disorders of the central nervous system (CNS), including Alzheimer’s. Alkahest was founded upon the pioneering work of Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray and other leading scientists at Stanford University who demonstrated that factors in the blood of young animals were able to restore mental capabilities in old animals. In their study published online in the May 4, 2014, edition of Nature Medicine, the scientists characterized important molecular, neuroanatomical and neurophysiological changes in the brains of old mice that shared the blood of young mice. Alkahest is now conducting clinical studies to determine if this promising data in animals can be translated to humans.
Grifols has acquired 45 percent of the equity of Alkahest for $37.5 million. In addition, Grifols will provide another payment of $12.5 million and fund the development of plasma-based products, which may be commercialized by Grifols. “The investment and collaboration of Alkahest will expand our research and development in fields that address one of the major unmet medical needs of this century and extend our footprint in one of the world’s leading centers for biomedical innovation,” said Victor Grifols, president and CEO of Grifols. “Alkahest’s research activities are an extension of Grifols’ long commitment to identify and develop significant therapies from human plasma for cognitive and other CNS disorders.”
For more information on Grifols’ research, see the article “Saving the Aging Brain: Grifols Attacks Alzheimer’s Disease Head-On” in the Winter 2015 issue of BioSupply Trends Quarterly at www.BSTQuarterly.com.
