Back to previousHenry Wellcome's Physiological and Chemical Research Laboratories
2 December 2008. By Penny Bailey.
Today, people recognise that research is a natural accessory to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals. But in the 1890s scientists were disdainful of the drug industry and urged graduates to steer clear of it if they wanted to preserve their professional reputations.
This attitude was perhaps understandable because in the days before antibiotics and chemotherapies pharmacists could do very little for patients. However, Henry Wellcome was about to change the scepticism with which researchers regarded his trade.
Diphtheria anti-toxin
In the early 1890s, researchers in Paris and Berlin had shown that people could be successfully immunised against diphtheria - a major killer at the time - with a therapeutic serum prepared in horses. There was naturally heavy demand for the new treatment, but it was difficult to produce serum of satisfactory purity in the large quantities needed.
In 1894, Wellcome took the visionary step of setting up Physiological Research Laboratories to overcome these challenges and produce their own anti-toxin sera. It took some time, but eventually his research team succeeded.
Wellcome sold the anti-toxin as cheaply as possible (initially below cost price). He later wrote: "When we pioneered and introduced anti-diphtheritic serum in the United Kingdom, we supplied it at a price very much below cost, for a considerable time, until we had developed improved processes which reduced the cost of production and increased the volume of output to a point that enabled us to take a fair profit."
Next Wellcome expanded his research activities into chemical experimentation, setting up his Chemical Research Laboratories in 1896 and inviting a great personal friend and fellow student from Philadelphia, the gifted chemist Frederick Power, to lead them.
Initially located in central London, the Physiological laboratory moved to Beckenham, Kent in 1921. Later, the Chemical laboratory joined it, and the site was renamed Wellcome Research Laboratories in 1946. The laboratories are still at the site, which is now a research and development site for GSK.
Scientific credibility
Crucial to the success of his research laboratories was Wellcome’s commitment to a broad scientific agenda - the advancement of knowledge - rather than insisting his research staff focus on commercial success. From the outset, he gave them the freedom to pursue their own research interests - and to publish the results in academic periodicals like the 'Journal of the Chemical Society'.
This freedom to publish without company supervision - or fear of losing valuable knowledge to rival firms - was of key importance, since it enabled Wellcome to recruit some of the world’s most brilliant academics to work for him.
"I want the work in these laboratories to be done on the highest scientific lines and with such thoroughness and precision that it will stand the test of time and the keenest criticism."
Henry Wellcome, 1904.
It also ensured frequent mention of Burroughs Wellcome & Co.'s products in the medical and scientific literature, strengthening the company's scientific credibility. This was important because the scientific establishment initially questioned the quality and independence of research being funded by a business. Henry Dale (later Sir Henry Dale), who joined as head of the Physiological Research Laboratories in 1904, later said many colleagues had warned him against joining the firm.
Eventually, the contribution of the Wellcome Research Laboratories to science and medicine was recognised, as was the need for researchers and pharmaceutical companies to join forces in the search for new therapies. It is now standard practice for drugs companies to have their own research and development sites and to ensure their advertising has scientific credibility.
Breakthroughs, products and prizes
The quality of the research conducted at the Wellcome Research Laboratories - thanks to their world-class scientists - brought important breakthroughs in both drug development and in the wider world of medical science.
Improvements in the production of anti-toxin in horses (raised serum) led to treatments for gas-gangrene and tetanus, as well as diphtheria. APT, the standard preparation for diphtheria immunisation in England and other countries, was prepared in the laboratories, and Wellcome researchers played major roles planning the mass immunisation campaign launched by the Ministry of Health in 1940, which led to dramatic reduction in cases of diphtheria.
Histamine was isolated in the Wellcome Research Laboratories, resulting in the production of antihistamines, and Burroughs Wellcome & Co. were the first producers of insulin in Britain. The company also revolutionised methods of standardising insulin and other medicines, replacing crude measures with products with a specific, controlled level of therapeutic activity.
Henry Dale agreed to Wellcome's request that he study ergot of rye, a fungus long known for its effects in promoting abortion and speeding up labour, with Cambridge trained chemist, George Barger. Dale and Barger discovered an extract, ergotoxine, which promoted uterine contractions and was enthusiastically marketed by the company. However, ergotoxine became important in medical history, because Dale's observation that it inhibited sympathetic nerve stimulation led him to the discovery of chemical neurotransmission, for which he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize.
During World War I, Burroughs Wellcome & Co. undertook vital work in replacing drugs of German origin that had ceased to be available, such as aspirin.
Such has been the organisation's commitment to investigation that staff scientists have won a share of five Nobel prizes. Wellcome himself was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1932, in recognition of his role as a promoter of scientific research.
