Rho(D) immunoglobulin (RhoGAM): how it came into being.

The story of Rho(D) immunoglobulin (RhoGAM) begins in 1909 with Theobald Smith, Fabyan Professor of Comparative Pathology at Harvard, and ends in the 1960s with completion of the clinical trials. Important in the development of RhoGAM were the search for a safe diphtheria vaccine, an interest in butterfly mimicry, the discovery of the Rhesus factor, and the contribution of Sing Sing prison inmates--seemingly unrelated occurrences. But, when all were combined, the riddle of erythroblastosis fetalis was solved.