Two Cultures of Regulation? The Production and State Control of Diphtheria Serum at the End of the Nineteenth Century in France and Germany

Abstract

t the end of the nineteenth century, diphtheria was one of the principal causes of mortality in children. The search for a remedy for the disease represented an important challenge for bacteriologists and microbiologists, and was perceived as an urgent social task. In the late 1880s two groups of scientists simultaneously started searching for a cure for diphtheria: Emile Roux (1853–1933) at the newly founded Pasteur Institute in Paris, and Emil Behring (1854–1917) in Berlin. Following Behring’s successful animal experiments initiated in 1890, a serum against diphtheria was available in pharmacies starting in August 1894. Indeed, diphtheria serum represented a major therapeutic innovation in modern medicine, offering an effective curative approach first against diphtheria and subsequently against other diseases. A medicine of biological origin, the new serum therapy also attracted intense state attention in the hope of minimizing any associated public health risks. A