Abbott Laboratories

Type: Public (NYSE: ABT)
Founded: 1888
Headquarters: Abbott Park, North Chicago, Illinois, USA
Key people: Miles D. White, Chairman and CEO
Products: Pharmaceutical products, medical devices, diagnostic assays,nutritional products and animal health products
Website: www.abbott.com

General Information

Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) is a diversified pharmaceuticals health care company. It has 68,000 employees and operates in 130 countries. The corporate headquarters are in Abbott Park, Illinois, located near North Chicago, Illinois.Abbott Laboratories was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888. In 2007, Abbott had over $25 billion in revenue.In 1985, the company developed the first HIV blood screening test. The company's drug portfolio includes Humira, a drug for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, Crohn's disease, moderate to severe chronic psoriasis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis; Norvir, a treatment for HIV; Depakote, an anticonvulsant drug; and Synthroid, a synthetic thyroid hormone. Abbott also has a broad range of medical devices, diagnostics and immunoassay products as well as nutritional products, including Ensure, a line of well known meal replacement shakes, and EAS, the largest producer of performance based nutritional supplements.Abbott’s in vitro diagnostics business is a world leader in immunoassays and blood screening. Abbott’s broad range of medical tests and diagnostic instrument systems are used worldwide by hospitals, laboratories, blood banks, and physician offices to diagnose and monitor diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, cancer, heart failure and metabolic disorders, as well as assess other important indicators of general health.Abbott Point-of-Care manufactures diagnostic products for blood analysis to provide health care professionals critical diagnostics information accurately and immediately at the point of patient care. In addition to its offerings in the blood gas and chemistries segment, Abbott also provides point-of-care cardiac assays to the emergency room.

History

In 1888 at the age of 30, Dr. Wallace C. Abbott founded the Abbott Alkaloidal Company. At the time he was a practicing physician and owned a drug store. His innovation was the use of the active - or alkaloid - part of a medicinal plant that he formed into tiny pills which he called “dosimetric granules.” This was successful since it allowed more consisitent and effective dosages for patients.