Just after the new year at CES 2022, Robert Ford, our CEO and Chairman of the Board, expressed our ambitions: To put you at the center of your own health by forging a future where "healthcare consumers — all of us — are less confused and more certain, less hesitant and more empowered, less self-conscious and more capable and confident."
We're advancing human-powered health through science-based nutrition, life-saving medical devices, empowering diagnostic technologies and digitized neuromodulation care.
And, if we may say so ourselves, we're off to a solid start.
Diabetes Care
With 4.5 million people around the globe relying on the continuous glucose monitoring of our FreeStyle Libre portfolio to help manage their diabetes, we feel the responsibility to continue to advance and improve our technology. Through key insights on how nutrition, exercise and lifestyle impact the overall health of those living with diabetes, we’re tirelessly working to enable them to live their best lives.
We didn't stop at a 14-day system with smartphone app integration and reliable MARD accuracy. FreeStyle Libre 3 — our smallest and most accurate1 continuous glucose monitoring system yet — brings real-time, minute-by-minute readings to compatible smartphones* without scanning.
That's why it received an Edison Award for Best New Product and was named as a Top 5 SXSW Innovation Award just this year.
And at its 2022 Golden Jubilee Awards, the Galien Foundation named our FreeStyle Libre portfolio as the Best Medical Technology of the last 50 years.
We're honored, but we're far from satisfied. The relentless pursuit to improve the lives of the approximate 206 million adults with diabetes worldwide isn't ceasing.
Neuromodulation
The impact of COVID-19 underscored the importance of digitizing healthcare, especially when it comes to managing neurological conditions and chronic pain.
We're working to build a complete digital healthcare landscape that alleviates the need for a physical trip to a specialist for reprogramming, substituting in the option for a remote visit avoiding the need for travel.
Amid the pandemic's unprecedented circumstances, our Neurosphere Virtual Clinic transformed care with remote neuromodulation technology, in-app video chatting and real-time adjustment during a remote visit with the patient's clinician.
Similarly, our Proclaim Plus spinal cord stimulation device improves the everyday activities of those living with evolving pain.
With our patient-centric care model, those living with chronic pain, Parkinson's disease, essential tremor and other neurological conditions can often skip the trip to the clinic, save themselves from the waiting room and the necessity to visit in-person and instead receive care and adjustment quickly and conveniently remotely.
For all of this and more, Neurosphere was honored with an Edison Award for Best New Product. And our Proclaim Plus spinal cord stimulation device took home a 2023 CES Innovation Award.
They're reminders of the impact that putting patients at the center of healthcare can have.
Cardiovascular
For more than 150,000 people across the globe who have experienced mitral regurgitation (MR) — a potentially fatal heart condition — our MitraClip device is enabling them to live better, healthier lives by restoring normal blood flow and function to valve leaflets, empowering those with MR to reclaim their lives.
This life-changing impact is what helped the device earn a 2022 Prix Galien International Award for Best Medical Technology.
We're continuing to advance MitraClip to help more patients in more places, because improving cardiovascular health is at the heart of who we are.
And because we know that cardiovascular health is a common concern across the world, with cardiovascular diseases impacting nearly half of adults in the U.S. alone, we've worked to stay on beat (literally) in other ways, too.
With a long battery life and a design for chronic retrievability, our AveirTM Single Chamber (VR) leadless pacemaker is treating people with slow heart rhythms, all through a minimally-invasive procedure. For people such as Bob — a veteran who relies on Aveir VR to stay on pace with his busy lifestyle — it's made a night-and-day difference.
That next-generation design and reliability helped it also earn a 2023 CES Innovation Award.
Biowearables
Our new line of biowearables — designed to track key biomarkers in the body such as glucose, ketones and lactate — is being developed to provide a window into the body and key insights for optimizing training or understanding how nutrition and food choices impact fitness performance, energy or hunger levels.
Just this year, our Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor helped Eliud Kipchoge blast through his own previous world record at the Berlin Marathon, carrying him to additional marathon victories in London and Berlin, and the glucose data and insights continue to support his training as he vies for victories at all six Abbott World Marathon Majors.
With visibility into their glucose data using biosensors like the Libre Sense Glucose Sport Biosensor, athletes like Kipchoge are able to better understand the relationship between their nutrition choices and training performance, while advancing their personal health goals.
This cutting-edge new frontier in sports earned recognition from Fast Company as one of 2022's Most Innovative Companies in Sports.
Diagnostics
We understand how critical it is to have reliable answers regarding your health. That's why we're breaking down existing barriers to these answers by making diagnostics faster, more reliable, and more accessible.
As if the preceding two years weren't eventful enough, 2022 presented a new challenge: monkeypox (MPXV).
Our Abbott Pandemic Defense Coalition worked to share information about the virus around the world as we developed an early MPXV PCR test for research use by our Coalition partners. We followed that by developing a second MPXV PCR test for use globally on our Alinity m System, our most advanced and efficient molecular system in our testing portfolio.
This fast and determined delivery of a much-needed tool to combat a potential epidemic earned the test a 2023 CES Innovation Award.
And to address a devastating condition that dates much further back than 2022, we worked to expand access to our i-STAT TBI Plasma test, which can help clinicians evaluate traumatic brain injuries — including concussions — in just 15 minutes, potentially saving time and money while increasing efficiency and knowledge in care. It's now offered in Tampa General Hospital's Emergency Department.
Trust that we're not stopping there. Transforming the way we evaluate concussions helped our i-STAT TBI Plasma test bring home a Best New Product Edison Award.
A solid start indeed.
But when it comes to improving the lives of billions across the globe — increasing access, cutting-edge innovation, affordability and convenience — we're never satisfied. We're in this pursuit for the longest run.
References
1 FreeStyle Libre 3 User's Manual.
* The FreeStyle Libre 3 app is only compatible with certain mobile devices and operating systems. Please check our website for more information about device compatibility before using the app. Use of the FreeStyle Libre 3 app requires registration with LibreView
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