The Poison Line

The shocking true story of the infected blood scandal: the worst treatment disaster in NHS history, which saw people infected with HIV by a revolutionary medical treatment and a cover-up from governments and the multi-billion-dollar plasma industry.

'The Poison Line is the gripping tale of a terrible scandal' Jonathan Freedland, author of The Escape Artist

‘A devastating piece of reportage. Books are routinely described as extraordinary, but this one really is’ John Preston, author of Fall

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Factor VIII was billed as a medical miracle when it was put on the market in the late 1960s: a revolutionary treatment that meant people with haemophilia could live full, ordinary lives.

But as the treatment was rolled out, haemophiliacs began to contract hepatitis and AIDS in terrifying numbers. Rumours circulated in the press; a climate of fear took hold. How safe was Factor VIII?

Even as medical bodies and pharmaceutical companies tried to discredit whistleblowers and diminish the evidence, it became clear that the ‘miracle’ treatment was infected. Factor VIII was killing the very people it promised to protect. And government embarked on a cover-up on an industrial scale.

Award-winning investigative journalist Cara McGoogan follows the survivors-turned-campaigners, the small-town lawyers and the fearless journalists to uncover what really happened in the infected blood scandal.

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‘This is a vital account of the infected blood scandal and subsequent cover-up . . . The truth must be told’ Andy Burnham

'Cara McGoogan's work serves as a beacon for those of us dedicated to uncovering facts in the service of justice and human rights’ Eliot Higgins, author of We Are Bellingcat

'Cara McGoogan is an indefatigable detective and a born storyteller' Steve Coll, author of Ghost Wars

'The definitive account of one of modern medicine's most chilling scandals' Gerald Posner, author of Pharma

Shortlisted for the J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize 2024

A Financial Times and Prospect 2023 Book of the Year