collaboration, this figure was reduced significantly to 10-15 million cases in 1967. The last naturally occurring case was confirmed in Somalia on October 26, 1977. Smallpox was declared eradicated by the World Health Organization in 1980. Ownership transfer and privatization Transfer to the Canada Development Corporation In June 1972, the Connaught Medical Research Laboratories was sold to the Canada Development Corporation (CDC) for $25 million (Canadian Dollars) and became known as "Connaught Laboratories Limited". Logistically, it was incorporated as "CDC Life Sciences Inc." under the CDC's healthcare division titled "ConnLab Holdings Ltd." At the time the CDC, charged with developing and maintaining Canadian-controlled companies in the private sector through a mixture of public and private investment, was federally owned. Nonetheless, the sale continued to stir controversy in the following years as the Labs became profit-driven and became subject to governmental investigation under allegations of mismanagement and deteriorated manufacturing standards. By 1974, Connaught had increased prices with one-day notice on most products, including insulin, such that one report noted that "some of its insulin wholesale prices became higher than the top U.S. retail prices found in a check just across the border at Niagara Falls." A more serious faux pas was noted in regard to an unannounced increase in the potency of a smallpox vaccine which caused strong reactions in patients and alarmed health authorities in Saskatchewan. The following February, The Globe and Mail ran a series of articles inquiring into Connaught's activities under the CDC. A separate review in 1989 reiterated that "staff was cut and plans were made to sell land and other assets to raise cash to cover financial mismanagement." Expansion into the United States In 1978, Connaught expanded into the United States with the acquisition of a vaccine production facility in Swiftwater, Pennsylvania. The expansion established "Connaught Laboratories Inc.", a U.S. subsidiary of Connaught Laboratories Ltd. The acquired facility was previously operated by Merrell-National Laboratories, the largest producer of swine flu vaccine in the U.S. Government's ill-fated mass immunization program in 1976 and the sole source of the yellow fever vaccine in the United States. The expansion consisted of a three-way deal between Connaught Laboratories Ltd., Richardson-Merrell Inc., and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The Salk Institute would take over the entirety of Richarson-Merrell's research and production plant as the company exited the market. Connaught would acquire the vaccine manufacturing facilities from the Salk Institute. Privatization