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
________________

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.

________________

‘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

"A revelatory work of non-fiction . . . The Poison Line renders personal tragedy on a mass scale: it’s a shuddering achievement" - Telegraph

"Factor VIII was supposed to be a miracle treatment for the clotting disorder haemophilia but instead became an agent of death . . . pharmaceutical companies, governments and medical bodies conspired to keep the global scandal under wraps, despite whistleblower evidence. A deeply shocking account of medical injustice" - Financial Times, Best Books of 2023

"The motivation of the companies producing Factor VIII in the US was clear: profit . . . As McGoogan points out, the parallels with the present-day opioid crisis in the US are clear" - London Review of Books

"Cara McGoogan’s The Poison Line is a brilliant act of investigative cartography, tracking the virus-ridden blood packs from their source (a prison in Louisiana) to patients in the US, the UK and beyond" - Prospect, Books of the Year 2023

"This is an absolutely invaluable work of investigation, a book that terrifies and enrages, and a ferociously brave model of truth-telling" - author of Frostquake

"This deeply moving account of the infected blood scandal is a must read. Though devastating, the humanity and courage of the patients and campaigners shines through on every page. I loved this book" - author of Life in the Balance

"The distressing details are laid out in forensic and heart-wrenching detail . . . McGoogan documents the near-incomprehensible scale of lies and deception that define this scandal – most egregiously the cover-up by doctors, pharmaceutical companies and governments who went on allowing infectious products to be used while aware they were potentially deadly" - Tortoise

"A fluidly written, deeply reported and ambitious exposé . . . The author displays an eye for the poignant detail" - Financial Times

"Tells the full story of the infected blood scandal over more than 40 years" - i