In CSL’s 90th year, there is no more fitting commemoration than to know that through our strong commitment to research and development we have played a key role in the collaborative work that has delivered the world’s first vaccine against cervical cancer.
Our core plasma therapeutics business had its origins in the early 1950s when CSL began to carry out plasma fractionation on behalf of the Australian Government in collaboration with the Australian Red Cross and using blood from voluntary donors. Since listing as a public company in 1994, CSL has become a world leader in plasma therapeutics through astute acquisitions and sound commercial management.
First produced in Australia for the 1968 influenza pandemic, CSL’s split virion influenza vaccine is now part of Australia’s national vaccination program, and international markets are expanding. The only influenza vaccine manufacturer in the Southern Hemisphere, CSL is also working closely with public health authorities and the Australian Department of Health to develop and license a safe and effective prototype pandemic influenza vaccine based on the H5N1 avian virus. Now a global specialty biopharmaceutical company, CSL is continuing to build the skills and capacity to develop, manufacture and market products for the treatment and prevention of serious human medical conditions.
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Immune deficiency patient, Mario Duller, considers the display at CSL Behring in Marburg showing a late nineteenth century serum laboratory. |
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CSL was established by the Australian Government in 1916 to produce sera, vaccines and other biologicals at a time when World War I led to supply shortages of these products to Australia.
By 1923, within a year of its discovery, CSL produced insulin to treat diabetes. Under wartime conditions in 1944, CSL manufactured penicillin and Australia became the first country to make regular supplies available to a civilian population. Production of BCG vaccine for the prevention of tuberculosis began in 1947. In a ten-year period starting in 1956, CSL produced 25 million doses of Salk polio vaccine and saw the disease virtually eliminated in Australia. These are just a few of many notable achievements in human health over the past 90 years. | |
