Canada’s leading biotechnology research company, Connaught Laboratories Limited is the country’s largest producer of biological products for human health. Its vaccine sales to the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa make it known worldwide.

Named in 1914 after the Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, and Governor-General of Canada, 1911-1916, the laboratory was largely the result of the efforts of Dr. John FitzGerald, a pioneer in producing serums and anti-toxins. With the outbreak of World War I, Connaught, as a part of the University of Toronto, produced vaccines against diphtheria, smallpox, typhoid, tetanus, and rabies. Following the discovery of the hormone insulin by Drs. Banting and Best at the University of Toronto in 1921, it became the world’s first manufacturer of insulin and remains a leading supplier of it through Connaught Novo Nordisk Inc.

In the 1940s Connaught was the first company to develop large scale methods to produce penicillin and a decade later worked closely with Dr. Jonas Salk to be the first mass producer of inactivated polio vaccine. Connaught also assisted Dr. Albert Sabin in developing an oral polio vaccine.
 

Connaught’s connection with the University of Toronto ended in 1972 when it was reorganized as a fully integrated commercial research and manufacturing company by the Canada Development Corp-oration. Six years later Connaught expanded its operations into the United States with the purchase of facilities in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania. By 1987 the company had developed a new technology that led to a conjugate vaccine against Haemophilus influenza type b, a major cause of infant meningitis. Marketed as ProHIBiT^®, the company has received a Gold Award for innovation at the 1989 Canada Awards for Business Excellence and in 1992, the Gold Award for Marketing.  In 1989 Connaught became a member of the Pasteur Mérieux family of companies, a biological organization with traditions going back to Louis Pasteur. Pasteur Mérieux Connaught is a part of the Rhône Poulenc global organization.

The major focus of Connaught’s research is on developing new and improved vaccines. Current R&D priorities include a genetically engineered version of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), as well as respiratory syncytial, parainfluenza and the influenza viruses which cause respiratory infections in young children and the elderly. Its emphasis on research places Connaught in the top 20 companies among the leading 500 companies in Canada. More than 15 percent of Connaught’s total sales worldwide is earmarked for research and development — more than $50 million in 1994 as the com-pany’s projected sales for the year are expected to reach $341 million.

Connaught is committed to its vision — Excellence in Biologicals for a Healthier World — and its commitment to protect people around the world from disease.