Grifols inaugurated the first integrated plasma-supply platform in Africa, the start of a robust plasma infrastructure that will bring self-sufficiency to Egypt while facilitating access to plasma products for the broader Middle East and African region, as well as other countries. Innovative in its goals and scope, the alliance that Grifols and Egypt announced in November 2020 is the first ever that pairs a government entity and a private plasma manufacturer to tackle national self-sufficiency. This game-changing initiative could be a blueprint for comparable efforts with other countries to increase local access to plasma and plasma treatments. Paving the way for this milestone in Egypt has been the rapid incorporation of legislation to meet international quality and safety standards. Local donation requirements are now aligned with those of the U.S. FDA, which oversees the most experienced network of plasma collection centers. Also guaranteeing excellence is Grifols' proven reliance on vertically integrated operations, ensuring end-to-end control of the entire plasma procurement and manufacturing process, from donation to finished medicinal product. Facilities in Egypt are expected to be authorized by local authorities as well as international regulatory agencies, such as the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and certified by the International Quality Plasma Program (IQPP) of the Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association (PPTA). Grifols Egypt for Plasma Derivatives, the joint-venture company between Grifols and the NSPO, initially plans to construct and fully equip 20 donation centers throughout the country. Officials from Grifols and the NSPO were in Cairo's Western Giza district to visit the first plasma collection center, housed in a modern two-story complex named 6th of October. It will begin taking plasma donations in November. The platform of plasma-supply centers, located throughout the country and equipped with the most advanced technology, will have a combined future collection volume capacity of 1 million plasma liters annually. This building also includes a testing laboratory for screening plasma and a training and educational area belonging to The Grifols Academy, the company's premier ongoing employee professional education program. The alliance will combine its expertise, technology and resources to construct production facilities for manufacturing hemoderivative medicines in the New Capital, including a plant to fractionate individual plasma proteins with a capacity to process 1 million plasma liters yearly that is expected to double. There will also be a protein purification plant and testing and warehousing operations.