Message from the Chairman & CEO

Welcome to Abbott's 2007 Global Citizenship Report. We're glad that you share our commitment to this work, and that you're interested in learning more about our efforts.

As you know, profound changes are taking place around the globe today with large implications for the world of business. We're seeing extraordinary energy around issues confronting society and the environment; and we see companies taking the lead as they embrace changing priorities and expectations as opportunities to inspire, improve and grow their businesses. We intend for Abbott to remain among those leaders.

To us, citizenship challenges are core business challenges – they're part of how we effectively develop, manufacture and market a product. These are all matters we must address seriously and successfully for our company to succeed.

And we're doing so throughout our operations and around the world. We find it invigorating that society is demanding more of business enterprises today, and we're energized to meet and extend these new standards. We view citizenship as a matter of competitiveness and business discipline. Citizenship principles and standards help our company successfully and responsibly fulfill its role in society. They are inseparable from our business and are integrated into our thinking and our actions.

Abbott's diverse portfolio of health care businesses involves our company in many of the most pressing and difficult issues facing our world today.

For instance, intellectual property protection is a matter of critical global importance and an area of significant disagreement between involved parties. These differences have come to the fore most notably in the Thai government's decision to void the patents of several medications, including Abbott's HIV drug lopinavir/ritonavir. While Abbott is committed to ensuring patient access to its products, and has demonstrated that commitment aggressively through multiple channels over a number of years, we must defend the innovation that is not just the lifeblood of our company, but the source of hope for future patients who also depend on us for the care they need. We will continue to work toward solutions that will satisfy the parallel goods at stake in this matter: ensuring both continuing medical innovation and access to its benefits.

Citizenship is inherent in our business. Our company was created 120 years ago to help people meet their most fundamental need – good health. Abbott people take that charge very seriously, and we carry it beyond our products, to the way we run our business. Caring for people's health links directly to concern for the environment, and to the well-being of the communities of which we are part.

Because our fundamental purpose is improving lives, we welcome the opportunity to keep improving the ways we do our work. And we're doing so. That's why, in 2007, we were named to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for a third consecutive year.

We've committed ourselves to making a difference, and we've approached that commitment with the same determination with which we pursue all our business goals. We know that neither our company, our society, nor our planet can thrive over the long term without full commitment to good stewardship. That's why citizenship is central to our business strategy. We intend for our company to still be a leader in health care in another 120 years – we know, without question, that this means being a leader in citizenship today.

Thank you for your interest in our company,

Miles D. White
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
April, 2008