CSL Limited

CSL was founded in 1916 as the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories, an Australian government body focused on vaccine manufacture. Under the first director, William Penfold,[3] CSL commenced operation in the vacant Walter and Eliza Hall Institute building at the Melbourne Hospital in 1918, before moving to its purpose-built Parkville premises in the following year. After ongoing disputes with the Commonwealth Department of Health and its director, (John) Howard Cumpston, Penfold resigned in 1927 and was replaced by Frederic Morgan. Soon after Morgan's appointment, CSL was drawn into a serious public health disaster when a batch of its diphtheria toxin-antitoxin was implicated in the deaths of twelve children in what became known as the 'Bundaberg tragedy' of 1928. Although CSL's manufacturing processes were absolved, its labelling procedures were seen to be in error, leading to an enduring focus on the highest standards across the facility's production.[4]

In 1928, CSL also became involved in antivenene (antivenom) manufacture in conjunction with the snake venom research undertaken by Charles Kellaway at the Hall Institute. This led to the successful clinical testing of antivenene against tiger snake Notechis scutatus bite in 1930, and its commercial release in 1931. In 1934, the research on snake venoms was transferred from the Hall Institute to CSL under the direction of former snake showman, Tom 'Pambo' Eades. This represented the initiation of research at the laboratories – an outcome its directors had been seeking for over a decade. The relationship with the Hall Institute continued until World War II, particularly via joint projects on viral diseases including polio and influenza coordinated by Frank Macfarlane Burnet and Esmond 'Bill' Keogh. Keogh played an important role in the establishment of penicillin production at CSL in 1944 – a critical wartime achievement.[5]

The operation commenced plasma fractionation in 1952. Thereafter the range of antivenoms increased, including those against other snake species such as death adder (Acanthophis antarcticus) and the taipan (Oxyuranus scutellatus), plus spiders including the redback (Latrodectus hasselti) and – after much difficulty – the Sydney funnel-web (Atrax robustus). Much of this work, including the introduction in 1962 of a polyvalent antivenom against all of the major terrestrial Australian snakes, occurred under the direction of Saul Wiener, while from 1966 until the mid-1990s, venom research was coordinated by the eccentric but dedicated Struan Sutherland, who in 1979 released new guidelines for snakebite first aid,[6] and a new test for snakebites that would identify which snake had envenomated the victim.[7]

Other major achievements of CSL include:[8]

• early production of insulin for treatment of Australian diabetics (1923)
• development of a tetanus vaccine (1938)
• development of a combined vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (1953)
• rapid adoption and production of a polio vaccine (1956)
• development of a multi-purpose animal vaccine covering pulpy kidney (enterotoxemia), tetanus, black disease, malignant oedema and blackleg (1961)
• production of Rhesus (D) immunoglobulin to prevent haemolytic disease in newborns due to Rh factor incompatibility (1966–67)
• pioneering heat treatment to protect blood and plasma products from infection with HIV (1983)
• collaboration on development of the world's first human papillomavirus vaccine, Gardasil, building on the pioneering work by Professor Ian Frazer (1994-2005).[9]

In 1994, the Commonwealth facility was privatised as CSL Ltd. In 2000 CSL doubled its size through the purchase of a Swiss plasma company, the Bern-based ZLB Bioplasma AG. In 2004, during a period of plasma oversupply, the company expanded again with the purchase of the German medical company Aventis Behring. The company was the 2nd Australian public company to have reached a share price of over $100 per share.

In 2011, the company received the Minister's Award for Outstanding Equal Employment Opportunities Initiative for their Thinking Kids Children's Centre. [10]

In October 2014, Novartis announced its intention to sell its influenza vaccine business, including its development pipeline, to CSL for $275 million. CSL merged it into its BioCSL operation.[11] In November 2015, BioCSL rebranded the combined business with Novartis Influenza Vaccines as Seqirus [Sek-eer-us] creating the world's second largest influenza vaccine company.[12] Completed in 2018, Seqirus's Holly Spring, NC, plant was funded with $59 million from the U.S. government.[13]

The company's headquarters remain in Parkville, Victoria, an inner suburb of Melbourne. CSL Behring is headquartered in King of Prussia, USA and it has manufacturing operations and R&D laboratories in the Swiss city of Bern, in Marburg in Germany, and Kankakee, USA.

Seqirus has its headquarters in Maidenhead and has production facilities in Holly Springs, USA, Liverpool, UK, and Parkville, Victoria

CSL is a public company and its stock is traded on the Australian Securities Exchange under the stock code CSL. The company completed an Initial Public Offering in June 1994 at A$2.30 per share. CSL stock is part of the S&P/ASX 20 Index.[14]

Influenza (Flu)
Types Avian A/H5N1 subtype Canine Equine Swine A/H1N1 subtype
Vaccines 2009 pandemic Pandemrix Live attenuated Seasonal flu vaccine brands
Treatment Amantadine Laninamivir Oseltamivir Peramivir Rimantadine Umifenovir Vitamin D Zanamivir
Pandemics 1918 Spanish flu 1957 Asian flu 1968–1969 Hong Kong flu 2009 swine flu
Outbreaks 1976 swine flu 2006 H5N1 India 2007 Australian equine 2007 Bernard Matthews H5N1 2008 West Bengal 2015 United States H5N2 outbreak
See also Flu season Influenza evolution Influenza research Influenza-like illness Vaccine reformulations

CSL's vaccine for Swine Flu, the world's first, was approved in September 2009 for use by people aged 10 and over.[15] The federal government ordered 21 million doses of vaccine for Australians. Further doses were made for customers in Singapore and USA. 2009 A/H1N1 . The Australian government intended to use the CSL Vaccine in one of the largest national vaccine programs in the country's history.

CSL Limited's products can be separated by company division. Some of the key products produced by each division, have included:

• Australian Red Cross Blood Service

• AH Brogan, Committed to Saving Lives: a History of the Commonwealth Serum Laboratories (Melbourne: Hyland House, 1990).
• Dando McCredie, The Fight Against Disease and CSL's Seventy Year Contribution (Richmond: Dando McCredie, c.1986).
• FG Morgan, 'The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories and their work', Collected Proceedings of the Society of Chemical Industry of Victoria, XXXV (1935), 1015–31.
• WJ Penfold, 'The Commonwealth Serum Laboratories', Medical Journal of Australia, 1 (14 April 1923), 396–400.
• Struan K Sutherland, A Venomous Life: the Autobiography of Professor Struan Sutherland (Melbourne: Hyland House, 1998).