July 1982: US Centre of Disease Control (CDC) reports that three haemophiliacs were diagnosed with Aids and warned thta the virus might be transmitted through blood products.
February 1984: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) licenses Cutter's heat-treated factor VIII concentrate, trade-named Koate-HT.
March 1984: Cutter starts selling Koate-HT in the US and some European countries.
October 1984: CDD study, carried out in co-operation with Cutter scientists, shows that heat treatment kills the Aids virus in factor concentrates. Researchers also discover that 74 per cent of severe haemophiliacs who used non-heated factor concentrate were HIV-positive.
November 1984: Cutter telexes its Hong Kong distributor, Luen Cheong Hong, saying: 'We must use up stocks of regular Koate we had made for export.'
March-May 1985: FDA warned concentrate manufacturers not to export non heated concentrate overseas.