Medical Devices

Medical devices and diagnostics are critical tools in disease management and treatment. Advances at Abbott include:

Vascular Care

Abbott is one of the world's leading vascular care companies. Our products combine medical device innovations with world-class pharmaceuticals to improve patient care. New product development is based on understanding the biology of disease, knowing where improvements in medical treatment are needed, and engineering new technology to treat diseases. We have a portfolio of vessel closure, endovascular and coronary products, which are recognized for their safety and effectiveness in treating patients.

Our drug-eluting stent, Xience V, was recommended for approval in the U.S. in 2007, a likely step toward full FDA approval in 2008 (the device is approved in Europe). A stent is a tiny lattice-like tube inserted into a diseased artery to keep it open and restore blood flow. Xience V delivers the drug, everolimus, to inhibit tissue proliferation.

We began the world's first clinical trial, Xience V Spirit Women, designed to study the safety and effectiveness of drug-eluting stent treatment for coronary artery disease in women. Each year, more women than men die of cardiovascular disease, yet women receive comparatively less research and treatment. This study has the potential to increase awareness of the disease among doctors and women. The global trial will enroll up to 2,000 women in Asia, Europe, Latin America and Canada.

We made advances in new heart treatment devices, including the first fully bioabsorbable stent, which is in human clinical trials. If successful, it could offer a potentially healthier alternative to metal stents.

Abbott is also sponsoring an extensive study on vulnerable plaque, a suspected trigger for sudden heart attacks. The study, known as PROSPECT, is the first of its kind to use novel blood and imaging tests to identify patients who are at risk for future heart attacks and who may benefit from preventive therapies. By providing data critical to understanding coronary artery disease, the study will expand the scientific knowledge that helps doctors predict and prevent heart attacks.

Molecular Diagnostics

Abbott's molecular diagnostics provide physicians with critical information based on subtle changes in patients' genes, allowing for earlier diagnosis of disease, selection of appropriate treatments, and monitoring of disease progression.

For many years, public health officials have been concerned about HIV's ability to mutate and create new strains and subtypes that elude detection. As the patient populations in the United States and other countries become more diverse, there is an increasing prevalence of different HIV strains. We received a 2007 Chicago Innovation Award for our m2000 molecular diagnostic instrument and RealTime HIV-1 viral load test, the most sensitive test of its kind capable of detecting and precisely measuring all known strains of HIV. This test offers physicians a quick and highly accurate test method to help ensure that their patients receive the most effective HIV treatment.

Monitoring Diabetes

We developed a continuous glucose monitoring system that can provide results every minute, allowing patients to easily check their status at any time. Our systems are easy to use, require less blood and provide fast results. The FreeStyle Navigator has been approved in Europe, and we expect approval in the U.S. in 2008. We also launched FreeStyle Lite, which offers results in an average of just five seconds without requiring calibration, and a second no-calibration meter, the Freedom Lite, offering patients greater ease of testing. We foresee rapid growth in Russia, Latin America, China, and Southeast Asia and have initiatives worldwide to educate people living with diabetes on how to lead active, healthy lives.