Abbott Laboratories NYSE: ABT is a pharmaceuticals and health care company. It has around 60,000 employees and operates in 130 countries.

The corporate headquarters are in Abbott Park, Illinois, a northern suburb of Chicago, IL, near its manufacturing center in North Chicago, Illinois. In 2001, Abbott acquired Knoll, the phamaceutical division of BASF. In 2003, Abbott had nearly $20 billion in sales. In 2004, Abbott spun off its hospital products division into a new 14,000 employee company named Hospira. Abbott also acquired TheraSense, a diabetes care company, which it merged with its MediSense division to become Abbott Diabetes Care. In 2006, Abbott assisted Boston Scientific in its purchase of Guidant Corporation. As part of the agreement, Abbott will purchase the vascular device division of Guidant.

Abbott Laboratories was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888.

In 1985, the company developed the first HIV blood screening test. The company's drug portfolio includes Humira, a drug for rheumatoid arthritis, Norvir, a treatment for HIV, Depakote, an anticonvulsant drug, Synthroid, a synthetic thyroid hormone, and Ensure for adult nutrition. Abbott also has a broad range of diagnostics and immunoassay products.

Abbott has not always held the greatest esteem in the eyes of AIDS activists. In 2003, the company's choice to sharply increase the price of its drug Norvir sparked protests amongst activists. More recently, in 2006, AIDS activists have again struck protests against Abbott for not registering or creating open licenses for its crucial second-line drug Kaletra.

Controversies

Protests to Increase Access to Kaletra in Developing Countries

In 2006, protestors from many organizations, including Doctors Without Borders, the Student Global AIDS Campaign, and Act Up have held protests all around the country (including Abbott labs and corporate office in Illinois, Virginia, New Jersey, and Florida) to demand that Abbott actively take part in registering Kaletra in developing countries, to create affordable prices in middle-income countries, to establish a pediatric version of the drug, and to create open licenses to allow for generic drugs to be made for those areas the company labels as "unprofitable." To their credit, Abbott executives seem to be responding, as they recently developed plans to register the new version of Kaletra in South Africa. Still, the activists expressed concern about the year and a half deadline for fully registering the drugs, worrying about the millions of people that will hang in the balance until then. In addition, the activists stated that they desired more holistic approaches from Abbott to responding to their demands than to expand programs in one country. Most recently, stockholders have expressed some unease about the protests, pointing to anxiety in activists continuing to protest even after Abbott voiced their plans for registration of Kaletra in South Africa.

Controversial pricing of Norvir

Abbott caused controversy in 2003 over a sharp rise in price of Norvir treatment from $1.71 per day to $8.57 per day, spurring claims of price gouging by consumer groups and some members of Congress. Critics point out that Abbott received $3,500,000 in grants from the United States taxpayers to develop Norvir, although the company has responded by pointing out the nearly $200 million development cost for the drug.

Consumer rights group Essential Inventions petitioned the National Institutes of Health to override Abbott's patent on Norvir, but the agency refused to do so on August 4, 2004, citing potential widespread adverse effects on the pharmaceutical market.