Areas of Expertise

Our line of animal health products is built on Abbott's expertise in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and nutrition. We are a leader in perioperative health care for the veterinary market. Products include anesthetics, wound care products, nutritional products, a complete line for intravenous fluid therapy, a blood glucose monitoring system for cats and dogs, and other veterinary critical care products in the United States, Europe, Switzerland, Canada, Japan and Australia. Key veterinary products include the TRANSIVA brand of intravenous sets and solutions; veterinary anesthesia products such as PropoFlo (propofol) and SevoFlo (sevoflurane); the AlphaTRAK blood glucose monitoring system for cats and dogs; and CliniCare ready-to-feed, nutritionally complete liquid diets for cats and dogs.

Our focus in diabetes care is to help people with diabetes effectively monitor and manage this serious metabolic condition. We offer innovative glucose monitoring systems, test strips and services for both in-home and hospital settings. In diabetes care, Abbott concentrates specifically on developing products that reduce the discomfort and inconvenience of glucose testing, are easy to use, require small blood samples and provide fast results. Among our leading glucose monitoring products are the FreeStyle family of products including FreeStyle Navigator, FreeStyle Lite, FreeStyle Freedom, and FreeStyle Flash blood glucose monitoring systems, all of which require tiny blood sample sizes, about the size of a pin head. These systems offer virtually pain-free testing on fingers and alternate sites such as the forearm, upper arm, thigh, calf or base of the palm. The FreeStyle Navigator system is a continuous glucose monitoring system designed to discretely and continuously measure glucose levels through a sensor in the back of the upper arm or abdomen. The FreeStyle Navigator system provides results once per minute. Our other leading blood glucose monitoring brands are Precision Xtra (Precision Xceed in most countries outside the United States), one of the first blood glucose monitor to offer ketone testing; and Precision PCx, a hand-held, point-of-care blood glucose monitoring system used in the hospital setting. We also offer sophisticated data management systems, insulin syringes, lancets as well as nutritional supplements designed specifically for people with diabetes.

A global leader in in vitro diagnostics, Abbott offers a broad range of innovative instrument systems and tests for hospitals, reference labs, blood banks, physician offices and clinics. Our instrument systems and tests provide early, accurate detection and management of medical conditions. Our products have helped transform the practice of medical diagnosis, virtually creating the modern diagnostics industry through continued research and development of solutions that improve patient care.

The cornerstone of our expertise in diagnostics is immunodiagnostics, the science of measuring the body’s antigen/antibody reactions to detect diseases and other medical conditions, and assess the general health of patients. Among our leading immunoassay systems are the AxSYM and ARCHITECT product lines. AxSYM, one of our most successful immunoassay diagnostic systems, has a menu that includes tests for cancer, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, drugs of abuse, fertility, pregnancy and thyroid conditions. The ARCHITECT is a family of modular analyzers that provides immunoassay and clinical chemistry results for drugs of abuse, cardiac disease, cancer, endocrinology, fertility, infectious disease and others.

Abbott continues to set the standard of excellence in blood screening, targeting hepatitis and retrovirus detection. Abbott’s blood screening tests – including our fully-automated ABBOTT PRISM system, which consolidates high-volume testing into a single system, reducing the risk of accidents and errors – are used to ensure the safety of the blood supply.

Building on a strong foundation in in vitro diagnostics, Abbott is an emerging leader in the rapidly growing area of molecular diagnostics – the analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins at the molecular level. Our instruments and tests are used to detect pathogens and subtle changes in patients’ genes and chromosomes, which enable physicians to detect diseases earlier and more accurately, select the appropriate therapies, and improve the monitoring of disease.

Through our Vysis line of products and an alliance with Celera Diagnostics, Abbott is providing physicians with critical information to detect and manage a range of infectious diseases and chronic conditions, including breast and bladder cancer, HIV, hepatitis, and cystic fibrosis. Among our core products in this area are PathVysion HER-2 DNA Probe Kit, a test used to identify women with breast cancer that could benefit from Herceptin therapy. Also available is UroVysion, the only DNA-based test currently available for monitoring the recurrence of bladder cancer. Determining therapy based on the results of genetic testing will be an important benefit of linking diagnostics and therapeutics, something that Abbott is well positioned to deliver.

Abbott is behind some of the world's most trusted names in pediatric, adult, healthy living and performance nutrition products. We've been a leader in helping babies grow and develop for more than 80 years. Our Similac brand of infant nutritional products was launched in the early 20th century. In 1959, Similac with Iron was the first iron-fortified infant formula clinically proven to prevent iron-deficiency anemia. Since then, we've continued to translate leading-edge science into formulas and related nutritional products that support the healthy growth and development of infants and children. We have a soy-based infant formula, Isomil, and Gain, a line of follow-on formulas and growing-up milks for older babies and toddlers.

Other recent innovations include the addition of fatty acids known as DHA and ARA to build strong minds, along with unique fat blends that help a baby's growing body absorb calcium more effectively. We also develop and market nutritional formulas to help parents manage common childhood illnesses and feeding problems such as fussiness, gas and diarrhea, as well as specialized products for infants and children with food allergies or metabolic illnesses.

We're also a leader in nutritional products to help adults maintain an active, healthy lifestyle. We pioneered the market for adult nutritionals more than 30 years ago with the introduction of Ensure, a leading source of complete, balanced nutrition. Today, our broad selection of convenient, portable nutrition shakes, snack bars and specialized nutrition products for athletes satisfies a wide range of nutrition needs and tastes. Our healthy living family of nutrition brands also includes, ZonePerfect and EAS.

In addition to these well-known consumer brands, we also offer medical foods and feeding devices for patients with special dietary needs due to injury, food allergies, or diseases that affect the body's metabolism such as cancer, respiratory conditions and gastrointestinal impairment. One of our primary brands is the Glucerna family of products, designed for people with diabetes. We focus on combining the science of nutrition with state-of-the-art technology and design to offer nutritional products that are easy to use and meet the changing nutritional needs of people at each stage of life.

We are committed to continuing investment in oncology research to discover and develop more targeted and less toxic therapies than are currently available for a broad range of cancers. We have several different classes of compounds in various stages of clinical development. These approaches address multiple phases of cancer progression, including angiogenesis (new blood vessel formation), signal transduction and programmed cell death (apoptosis).

Abbott is advancing the treatment of vascular disease by combining the latest medical device innovations with world-class pharmaceuticals to improve patient care. Our broad line of vascular devices – which includes vessel closure, endovascular and coronary technologies – is used to treat vessel diseases of the heart, carotid arteries and peripheral blood vessels. These vessel diseases can lead to heart attack, stroke, critical limb ischemia, and other serious vascular conditions. Among our vessel closure technologies are suture-mediated closure products such as Perclose A-T, Perclose ProGuide and Prostar; assisted manual compression products like Chito-Seal; and clip-based closure technologies. Our next-generation vessel closure system, StarClose, uses a specially designed flexible clip to close the access site in the femoral artery following a catheterization procedure.

We also offer a number of self-expanding and balloon stents, as well as catheters for endovascular procedures. In coronary technology, we have an extensive line of interventional cardiology and peripheral devices, including stents, stent grafts, balloon devices and guiding and diagnostic catheters. Next generation products include the minimally invasive Xact Carotid Stent and Emboshield Embolic Protection Device to treat carotid artery disease, and an investigational drug-eluting stent to treat coronary artery diseas