February the 18th, 2025 – Croatia is now on track to begin producing medicine from human plasma once again from 2030 onwards.
As Josipa Ban/Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatia is finally on the right track to becoming self-sufficient again in the production of blood plasma medicines. To briefly turn the clock back, the country ended up being left without this strategic and important geopolitical component back in 2013. That was the year that Croatia’s Immunology Institute ceased its production of medicine made from human plasma, but this should change in a few years.
The first step towards self-sufficiency has finally been completed. On February the 5th this year, the aforementioned institute successfully selected a contractor for the project of Design and Construction of a Plant for the Production of Medicines from Human Plasma.
The new factory will be located in Rugvica near Zagreb. Other parts of the project to revitalise the production of the Immunology Institute will also be located there. They include a snake antivenom factory, an administrative building and its supporting infrastructure, as well as a vaccine factory. All this should soon become a large construction site and eventually, the country’s centre of production of medicines crucial to human health.
who will carry out the works to ensure croatia can produce medicine made using human plasma?
Of the two submitted bids, the one from the consortium led by the American company Biopure Consulting was selected. This consortium offered to construct the blood plasma drug factory for 51 million euros including VAT, or 40.8 million excluding VAT. The cost of the new factory far exceeds the estimated value of the project, 21.6 million euros.
Vedran Čardžić, director of the Immunology Institute, explained that at the time of the public procurement announcement, they had that much grant money available from EU funds. They came from the Competitiveness and Cohesion Programme. “The total planned expenditure on the Competitiveness and Cohesion 2021-2027 activities for the Immunology Institute amounted to 36.3 million euros for the period 2025-2027. The funds that will be needed for the period from 2028 will be planned in the appropriate time and budget period,” he revealed. The money needed for the project will therefore be secured from EU funds, the state budget and the Immunology Institute’s own funds.
To sign a contract with the selected contractor, the consent of the competent authorities still needs to be obtained, which should come soon. The further dynamics of this strategic project which will see Croatia once again produce medicine from human plasma include the development of a conceptual design. That part should be started immediately after obtaining the consent of the competent authorities and, consequently, signing the contract with the selected contractor. The conceptual design should be completed within a mere four months, after which the development of the main design of the plant building, the detailed design and the cost estimate will begin.
looking to 2030
The work should be completed just eight months after the acceptance of the conceptual design. The construction works themselves should begin in mid-2026. The new factory should be ready in 60 months from the signing of the contract. That takes us to around the spring of 2030.
