| Administrative history | The London Hospital Ligature Department developed, manufactured, and marketed surgical catgut sutures. Despite the misleading name, catgut is made from purified collagen taken from the small intestine of ruminants (animals such as cows and sheep) – the Ligature Department used lamb. Catgut sutures offered flexibility and strength, and were absorbed by the body during the healing process.
The London Hospital Ligature Department had been set up in 1919 in response to declining availability of suture stocks, in part caused by the First World War. A high quality, home-grown, option was sought and so the Governors of the London Hospital invited their technical staff to investigate the feasibility of manufacturing suture material.
One of those invited to investigate developing in-house suture production was Henry Morley. He was a theatre assistant at the London Hospital and had witnessed the devastating effects of weak or non-sterile sutures. Morley developed a manufacturing process which was adopted by the Hospital, which launched pilot production in 1918. By 1919 twenty, mostly women, staff were employed producing catgut sutures using the London Hospital’s name and the slogan “Morley’s process”. The department was housed on London Hospital premises (Fielden Block) and the board was made up of Alfred Salmon at Chairman, Henry Morley as Managing Director, Ernest Morris as head of hospital facilities.
Orders flooded in from other hospitals and Allen & Hanbury’s Ltd, a leading medical supplies supplier was selected as the sole distributor. On 23 June 1922 the London Hospital Ligature Department Ltd. was incorporated.
In 1926 an additional site was chosen, at Marshgate Lane in East London, for production of raw catgut.
The growth in orders meant that extra production facilities’ were added at Glasshouse Fields in Stepney in 1933, employing 300 additional staff. The business’ turnover, domestic and export, was equivalent to about 20% of the London Hospital’s entire income and was outselling its main UK competitor.
During the Second World War Blitz it became apparent that the Ligature Department was in a highly vulnerable area. Morley chose his local golf club, in Bishops’ Stortford, to evacuate the production plant and labour force to.
In the late 1940s the progress of the Ligature Department started to falter, being unable to meet the demands of the post-war market. Orders were running at about double production levels. Despite purpose built new laboratories, London Hospital Catgut was unable to keep up with advancements in product development. They still enclosed their suture products in glass whereas their main competitor, Ethicon, was now offering sutures wrapped in “theatre safe” plastic foil. Ethicon also was in the process of opening an irradiation plant to better sterilise their goods, whilst the Ligature Department was still using chemical based sterilisation.
The final death knell came in the form of synthetic sutures. These sutures were made from synthetic polymer and were extruded into threads. Now producers wouldn’t have to worry about the sterility of the ‘catgut’, nor the problems associated with product consistency.
Despite launching a plastic pack in January 1970, it was too late for London Hospital Catgut to claw back market relevancy and supremacy. In August 1970 with no notice LHC was put into liquidation. Following the eruption of Mad-Cow Disease (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy) in the 1990s Europe banned the use of catgut sutures in humans.
For a business which was only existence for just over 50 years the London Hospital Ligature Department had a remarkable impact on suturing and medical marketing. In the early days the department developed a distinctive branding, making use of the prestigious London Hospital name, and emphasising being a home-grown, British product. When the company’s primary retailer, Allen & Hanbury’s, was taken over by pharma giant Glaxo in 1958 LHC was forced to manage its own marketing and sales. The company’s sales representatives operated nationally and internationally to scope appetite for the sutures. Their reports influenced production and marketing decisions, such as the move to plastic packaging and the use of dispensers. LHC’s marketing distinguished them from their competitors, but the company made sure to keep a close eye on their work by collecting and analysing the competitors’ brochures and adverts. |