The Plague Research Institute was opened on August 10, 1899 by the then Governor of Bombay, Lord Sandhurst, with Dr. W. M. Haffkine as its first Direction in Chief. Its primary job was to produce the plague vaccine for use all over India, a role which it fulfilled quite satisfactorily.
Housed from the beginning in the old gubernatorial mansion in Parel (left vacant by the Governor's move to Malabar Point), the institute changed its name to The Haffkine Institute after 1930, following Dr. Haffkine's death. At present it produces rabies vaccine and snake anti-venom.