Grifols and Inpeco Partner to Deliver Transfusion Medicine ‘Lab of The Future’

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 21 Mar 2025

Image: Inpeco’s new open automation system FlexLab X will enable Grifols solutions to interconnect with, and expand within, existing and future lab footprints (Photo courtesy of Inpeco)

Grifols (Barcelona, Spain), a manufacturer of plasma-derived medicines and innovative diagnostic solutions, has entered into a strategic agreement with Inpeco (Novazzano, Switzerland), a global leader in total laboratory automation technologies, to provide transfusion medicine labs with complete, tailored instrumentation, robotics, and software capabilities to modernize their operations and make them more efficient.

The partnership adds to Grifols’ global leadership in instrumentation, reagents and technical service that screens blood and plasma for possible pathogens as well as performs blood typing for safer transfusions. Grifols, whose technology analyzes tens of millions of donor samples each year, now complements its portfolio with Inpeco’s new open automation system FlexLab™ X, a combination of leading-edge robotics and software that will enable Grifols solutions to interconnect with, and expand within, existing and future lab footprints.

Specifically, Grifols will enhance its industry-leading analytical technologies known for their high throughput and precision with Inpeco’s iconic automation solutions that dispatch sample tubes to Grifols analyzers, among others, and then, after testing, route them to refrigerated storage to further reduce manual intervention while guaranteeing full sample traceability. Digital dashboards provide real-time data on lab performance, while flexible architecture allows to adopt innovations still to come. As part of their collaboration, the two companies are exploring areas in which their combined engineering expertise could deliver more value to transfusion medicine laboratories, which could include technologies that focus on sample pooling, analysis, and transport.

“Grifols is providing the laboratory of the future,” said Antonio Martínez, president of Grifols Diagnostic Business Unit. “We are extremely pleased to join forces with Inpeco, two global lab technology leaders with a complete solution for labs of any size to fully equip their operations knowing they will have the most advanced and scalable technologies today and in the future.”

“At Inpeco, we believe that end-to-end automation is the key to eliminating errors in diagnostic processes,” said Riccardo Triunfo, CEO of Inpeco. “Especially in transfusion medicine, where precision is non-negotiable, our mission is to ensure that labs operate with the highest levels of safety, efficiency and accuracy. Our partnership with Grifols reinforces this vision, enabling laboratories to modernize their operations with confidence.”