After the smallpox vaccine was brought to Canada in 1796 by John Clinch, more concerted efforts were made to stem the further spread of smallpox. Between 1885 and 1907, Dr. Alexander Stewart's Ontario Vaccine Farm in Palmerston, Ontario successfully provided a dependable supply of vaccines to much of Canada. In 1916, the newly-established Connaught Laboratories purchased the equipment of the Ontario Vaccine Farm and took over the production process to bring domestic incidences under control by the 1940s. The Institut de microbiologie et d’hygiène (now ) at the Université de Montréal began preparing the smallpox vaccine in 1939, primarily for distribution in Québec. Collaboration with the World Health Organization In addition to Canada's routine, domestic immunization needs, demand for Connaught's smallpox vaccine had expanded through the war years given military needs and the growing scale of transnational medical operations. Simultaneously, the pharmaceutical industry was drastically transformed by such interlinked factors as the post-war boom, factory-based mass-production, increased barriers to entry, and heavy consolidation of private industry (in 1951 alone, Pfizer opened subsidiaries in nine new countries). Small domestic producers fell under foreign control as they were unable to compete on the scale demanded by the new technology. Given these developments, by the 1950s the Labs' leadership saw a necessary and advantageous niche in the growing international market for the smallpox vaccine. To meet demands for transportability and a longer shelf-life, Connaught began its efforts to produce a dried version of the vaccine under Cleeve R. Amies, previously of the Lister Institute. In 1967, the institution entered into formal collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) on its smallpox eradication program. Under the leadership of Robert J. Wilson (then Assistant Director of Connaught) and Paul Fenje, Connaught assumed regional responsibility for the smallpox eradication effort in Latin America, especially in Brazil. Their early efforts focused on ensuring the availability of high-quality local vaccine supplies. WHO codified vaccine production standards in its document, Methodology of Freeze-dried Smallpox Vaccine Production, based largely on Connaught's experience and Wilson and Fenje's initiative. By the fall of 1968, five of the major vaccine producers in Latin America were meeting, or almost meeting, the requisite standards of adequate potency, stability and bacteriological sterility. In 1969, Connaught was designated as the WHO Regional Reference Centre for Smallpox Vaccine in the Region of the Americas. Globally, approximately 50 million cases still occurred each year in the 1950s. Through transnational