New blood in Dublin as pharma giant Grifols sets up

Attention to detail is critical in the world of pharmaceuticals. Little wonder then thatVictor Grifols Roura makes a point of wearing a tie featuring shamrock for the formal opening of his company’s $100 million plant in Dublin’s Grange Castle.

Grifols is the third generation of his family to lead the company, one of the three major global players in the business of extracting proteins from blood plasma and using them to develop medicines.

The company was founded in the wake of the Spanish Civil War in 1940 by his grandfather, who developed what is now the industry standard method of extracting plasma proteins from blood. It survived the uncertainties of Franco’s rule and the reshaping of Europe to become one of the handful of Spanish multinational businesses.