Foundation of the Institute
In a small villa on the outskirts of Siena, Achille Sclavo founds the Institute, to produce the serum against anthrax he had discovered.
In a small villa on the outskirts of Siena, Achille Sclavo founds the Institute, to produce the serum against anthrax he had discovered.
The Sclavo Institute is restructured to meet the scientific advances of the time and the needs of World War I.
After the death of the founder, the Institute remained a family business, gradually establishing itself at the national level.
The increasing degree of technical sophistication leads the Institute to be a modern center not only of production, but also for the study and research.
The Institute begins to produce Sabin’s anti-polio and starts the collaboration with the Wellcome Foundation in London.
The Institute extends in the US, while the futuristic Research Center is born and the activities of the new area of Rosia start.
From the collaboration with Venter, the Reverse Vaccinology technique is born, key of the vaccine against meningococcus B.
The company becomes one of the most important realities in vaccines, whose study proceeds, in addition to their use in mass vaccinations.
With the integration in GSK, the Siena and Rosia site becomes part of a pharmaceutical company committed on a global scale.
The Institute extends in the US, while the futuristic Research Center is born and the activities of the new area of Rosia start.
With the prestige achieved by the implementation of the polio vaccine, the Sclavo Institute grew rapidly until it reached a thousand employees, extending in the United States and beginning a phase of changes in ownership, which saw the company gradually shifting under the control of ENI.
In the 1970s, the Institute was structured in three main divisions: the “biologicals”, for the production of bacterial vaccines, anatoxins, anatubercolines and for the purification of serums and those for the production of blood products. In addition, in the Virology Center, viral vaccines such as those against polio, smallpox, rabies, flu, parotitis were produced and studies on epidemic hepatitis and the immune prophylaxis of measles and rubella were conducted.
The second division was that of the “diagnostics”, with its two sections, bacteriology and biochemistry.
In the third division – that of the “pharmaceuticals” – the most various specialties were produced, such as those based on antibiotics and sulfonamides, and, more often, constituted by the association of biological origin with chemically pure substances.
In 1970 the new Research Center was inaugurated, a cutting-edge facility where qualified technicians carried out activities of experimentation and scientific investigation. In those years, the production and marketing of Sclavo products increased worldwide and fruitful and lasting collaborations began, like that with the World Health Organization and with international humanitarian Associations, like UNICEF and PAHO (Pan American Health Organization).
In 1972, a new complex – built in Rosia, an isolated place, surrounded by greenery – was dedicated to veterinary services. This second site, a few kilometers from Siena, will gradually see the growth of the production plants and would become, in a few decades, a center of excellence.
Unique example of large industry in the small Siena, the Sclavo Institute could count on the intervention of the institutions, which contributed to the revival of the factory.
The activity of the site, meanwhile, continued to stand out for the excellent scientific results. To 1984 dates back the sequencing and large-scale production of mutant diphtheria toxin CRM197 and to 1989 the start of the development of the acellular vaccine for pertussis (Galen Award in 1993).