Blood, Plague and Smallpox

The story of the Elstree Laboratory

Elstree is synonymous with the movie industry, but it also has another tale to tell – over 120 years as a life science innovator. A former farm, land across the reservoir built by French prisoners during the Napoleonic wars, became a series of laboratories under the Lister Institute of Preventative Medicine. The work was varied, but pathogen safety and nutrition came to dominate the researchers before the greatest success was achieved through a pivotal role in the global eradication of smallpox. From Lister sprung the Blood Products Laboratory, a global innovator in plasma products (including immunoglobulins and the world’s first factor VIII for the treatment of haemophilia).

The Lister Institute is no longer active in producing medicines and BPL has a new life as part of Kedrion BioPharma. Yet the legacy remains, and the three central elements are captured by this book’s title – Blood, Plague, and Smallpox.

The history of the site is an exciting story in itself – criminals sought out by Scotland Yard; dedicated workers contracting the very pathogens they are experimenting on; periodic political and biological threats to the site remaining open (from Margaret Thatcher to mad cow disease), this is not a dry history but one of twists, turns, survival and scientific excellence.