The shocking story of how corporate greed and political corruption turned a miracle cure for hemophilia into a deadly poison. In the late 70s and early 80s, people with hemophilia believed they were living in the golden age of medical treatment. While earlier hemophiliacs risked death at routine dentist appointments, modern patients had Factor VIII--a miracle medication whose blood clotting protein could save them from debilitating, sometimes lethal, bleeds. What doctors and patients didn't know was that pharmaceutical companies like Bayer and Baxter were harvesting Factor VIII from blood collected on skid row, in night clubs, and in prisons during the growing AIDS crisis. The companies knew these high-risk donors, who were paid with cigarettes or small sums of cash, could contaminate the drug. But, miracles are a lucrative business, so they knowingly sold the product and effectively played Russian roulette with hemophiliacs' lives. At Treloar's, a British school for children with disabilities, half of the 122 students with hemophilia were infected with HIV. At least 72 have died from their infections, just thirty-two are still alive. In America, some 8,000 people with hemophilia contracted HIV; just over 700 are alive today. Award-winning journalist Cara McGoogan follows the twisting trail of tightlipped executives and missing documents to bravely ask if the line of corruption could have been broken, whether people could have been saved, and, ultimately, who is to blame for the thousands of unnecessary deaths. McGoogan not only uncovers the scandal of Factor VIII but also exposes a sweeping blueprint for corporate greed and malfeasance that, from the opioid crisis to vaping addictions, reverberates in our lives today. This is a deeply human story that draws a deft portrait of the victims whose lives were ruined by Factor VIII, the doctors who had to reckon with their mistakes, the inmates and willing donors who learned of their compliance too late, and the courageous whistleblowers, survivors, and lawyers who daringly fought for justice.

The shocking true story of how a miracle cure became a deadly poison, and the lengths that big pharma and government took to cover it up, for readers of Patrick Radden Keefe's Empire of Pain and John Carreyrou's Bad Blood 'The Poison Line is the gripping tale of a terrible scandal. It turns on the hubris of doctors, the folly of politicians and, above all, the greed of some of the world's biggest drug companies' Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist Factor VIII was sold as a medical miracle when it was first put on the market in the late 1960s: a revolutionary treatment that freed people with haemophilia to reclaim their lives, no longer in fear that a bleed might prove fatal. But as the cure was rolled out wholesale in the 1970s and 80s, haemophiliacs began to contract hepatitis and AIDS in terrifying numbers. Questions began to be asked. Rumours circulated in the press. How safe was Factor VIII? Award-winning investigative journalist and host of the Bed of Lies podcast Cara McGoogan traces the line of infection back to the pharmaceutical companies - Alpha, Armour, Baxter and Bayer - who made Factor VIII by pooling thousands of donors' paid-for plasma and selling it for billions of dollars. The miracle treatment was infected with HIV, and it was being injected straight into the arms of people with haemophilia around the world. Before long, Factor VIII was killing those it promised to protect. In this David and Goliath story, we follow the survivors-turned-campaigners, the small-town lawyers and the fearless journalists who took on some of the most powerful interests in the world - from medical institutions to governments and big business - to uncover what really happened in the infected blood scandal, the worst treatment disaster in NHS history. Part medical exposé, part courtroom drama and a marvel of propulsive storytelling, The Poison Line brings the full truth into the light in all its shocking and riveting detail. 'Cara McGoogan is an indefatigable detective and a born storyteller' Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars 'A riveting story of pharmaceutical and government malfeasance and cover up that left a trail of death and misery in its wake. Cara McGoogan's in-depth reporting and seamless writing makes The Poison Line the definitive account of one of modern medicine's most chilling scandals' Gerald Posner, author of Pharma