Abbott Laboratories is a multinational health care company with headquarters in Lake Bluff, Illinois. The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known drugs; it eventually grew to also sell research-based drugs, medical devices, diagnostics, and nutritional products. It split off the research-based pharmaceuticals into Abbvie in 2013. In 2015, revenues were $20.4 billion.

Abbott has a broad range of branded generic pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and nutrition products. The company's in-vitro diagnostics business performs immunoassays and blood screening. Its medical tests and diagnostic instrument systems are used worldwide by hospitals, laboratories, blood banks, and physician offices to diagnose and monitor diseases such as HIV, hepatitis, cancer, heart failure and metabolic disorders, as well as assess other indicators of health. In 1985, the company developed the first HIV blood-screening test.

Abbott Point-of-Care manufactures diagnostic products for blood analysis to provide health care professionals diagnostics information at the point of patient care. Abbott also provides point-of-care cardiac assays to the emergency room.

In 1888 at the age of 30, Wallace Abbott (1857–1921), an 1885 graduate of the University of Michigan, founded the Abbott Alkaloidal Company. At the time, he was a practicing physician and owned a drug store. His innovation was the use of the active part of a medicinal plant, generally an alkaloid (e.g., morphine, quinine, strychnine and codeine), which he formed into tiny "dosimetric granules". This approach was successful since it produced more consistent and effective dosages for patients.

Abbott's first international affiliate was in London in 1907, and the company later added an affiliate in Montreal, Canada (Fact 21). Abbott started operations in Pakistan as a marketing affiliate in 1948; the company has steadily expanded to comprise a work force of over 1500 employees. Currently two manufacturing facilities located at Landhi and Korangi in Karachi continue to produce pharmaceutical products. Expansion continued in 1962 when Abbott entered into a joint venture with Dainippon Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., of Osaka, Japan, to manufacture radio-pharmaceuticals. In 1964, it acquired Ross Laboratories, making Ross a wholly owned subsidiary of Abbott. In 1965, Abbott's expansion in Europe continued with offices in Italy and France. Abbott Laboratories has been present in India for over 100 years through its subsidiary Abbott India Limited and it is currently India's largest healthcare products company.

According to Harvard professor Lester Grinspoon and Peter Hedblom, "In 1966 Abbott Laboratories sold the equivalent of two million doses of methamphetamine in powder form to a Long Island criminal dealer".

In 2001, the company acquired Knoll, the pharmaceutical division of BASF. In 2002, it divested the Selsun Blue brand to Chattem. Later in 2002, the company sold Clear Eyes and Murine to Prestige Brands. In 2004, it spun off its hospital products division into a new 14,000 employee company named Hospira, and 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 purchased the vascular device division of Guidant. In 2007, Ross was renamed Abbott Nutrition.

In 2007, Abbott acquired Kos Pharmaceuticals for $3.7 billion in cash. At the time of acquisition, Kos marketed Niaspan, which raises levels of “good,” or HDL, cholesterol and Advicor, a Niaspan combination drug for patients with multiple lipid disorders.

In January 2007, the company agreed to sell its in vitro diagnostics and Point-of-Care diagnostics divisions to General Electric for more than $8 billion. These units were slated to be integrated into the GE Healthcare business unit. The transaction was approved by the boards of directors of Abbott and GE and was targeted to close in the first half of 2007. However, on July 11, 2007, Abbott announced that it had terminated its agreement with GE because the parties could not agree on the terms of the deal.

On September 8, 2007, the company completed the sale of the UK manufacturing plant at Queenborough to Aesica Pharmaceuticals, a private equity-owned UK manufacturer. No announcements have been made restricting the movement of staff to Abbott unlike other sell outs. On February 26, 2009, the company completed its acquisition of Advanced Medical Optics based in Santa Ana, California. In 2009, Abbott opened a satellite research and development facility at Research Park, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

In February 2010, Abbott completed its $6.2 billion (EUR 4.5 billion) acquisition of the pharmaceuticals unit of Solvay S.A.. This provided Abbott with a large and complementary portfolio of pharmaceutical products and also expanding its presence in key emerging markets.

On March 22, 2010, the company completed its acquisition of a Hollywood, Florida-based LIMS company STARLIMS. Under the terms of the deal, Abbott Laboratories acquired the company for $14 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at $123 million. On May 21, 2010, Abbott Laboratories said it would buy Piramal Healthcare Ltd.'s Healthcare Solutions unit for $2.2 billion to become the biggest drug company in India.

In October 2011, the company announced that it planned to separate into two companies, one research-based pharmaceuticals and the other in medical devices, generic drugs sold internationally, and consumer products, with device company retaining the Abbott name. The company announced that the other company would be named AbbVie in March 2012. In preparation for the reorganization, Abbott made severe budget cuts and took a $478 million charge in Q3-2012 to pay for the restructuring. The separation was effective as of January 1, 2013. AbbVie was officially listed in the New York Stock Exchange on January 2, 2013.

On May 16, 2014, it was announced that Abbott would acquire the holding company Kalo Pharma Internacional S.L. for $2.9 billion in order to secure the 73% it held of Chilean pharmaceutical company, CFR Pharmaceuticals, which the company said would more than double its branded generic drug portfolio.

In June 2014, the company entered into a definitive agreement to take over Russian pharmaceutical manufacturer Veropharm (Voronezh) in a deal worth $631 million. Abbott, which already employs 1,400 people in Russia, said it planned to set up a manufacturing presence in the country when the deal closed.

In February 2016, the company announced it would acquire Alere for $5.8 billion. In late April, of the same year, Abbott announced it would acquire St. Jude Medical for $25 billion (each share receiving $46.75 in cash & 0.8708 shares of Abbott common stock, equating to an approximate value of $85).

In October 3, 2017, the company closed the Alere acquisition making the surviving entity the market leader player in the $7 billion point-of-care diagnostic space within the broader $50 billion in-vitro diagnostics market with this takeover. With the acquisition of Alere,the company also obtain the subsidiary Arriva Medical, which is the largest mail-order diabetic supplier.

The following is an illustration of the company's major mergers and acquisitions and historical predecessors (this is not a comprehensive list):

Abbott Alkaloidal Company
(Est 1885)

Ross Laboratories
(Acq 1964)

SmithKline Beecham
(Acq 1982)

Knoll
(Acq 2001)

Selsun Blue
(Sold to Chattem 2002)

Murine
(Sold to Prestige Brands2002)

Clear Eyes
(Sold to Prestige Brands 2002)

Guidant
(Vascular device div, Acq 2006)

TheraSense
(Acq 2004)

Hospira
(Spun off 2004)

Advanced Medical Optics
(Acq 2009)

IntraLase Corp
(Acq 2007)

Solvay Pharmaceuticals
(Acq 2010)

STARLIMS
(Acq 2010)

Lab Data Management Ltd
(Acq 2008)

AbbVie
(Spun off 2013)

IDEV Technologies
(Acq 2013)

OptiMedica Corporation
(Acq 2013)

Veropharm
(Acq 2014)

Topera, Inc
(Acq 2014)

Kalo Pharma Internacional S.L.
(Acq 2014)

CFR Pharmaceuticals

Epocal, Inc.
(Acq 2013)

Arriva Medical
(Acq 2012)

St. Jude Medical
(Est 1976)

Pacesetter, Inc.
(Acq 1994)

Daig Corporation
(Acq 1996)

Heart Valve Company
(Acq remaining 50% from joint venture with Hancock Jaffe Laboratories' 1996)

Biocor Industria
(Acq 1996)

Ventritex
(Acq 1997)

Tyco International
(Angio-Seal div, Acq 1999)

Endocardial Solutions
(Acq 2005)

Advanced Neuromodulation Systems
(Acq 2005)

MediGuide
(Acq 2008)

AGA Medical
(Acq 2010)

LightLab Imaging
(Acq 2010)

CardioMEMS Inc.
(Acq 2014)

Endosense
(Acq 2013)

Spinal Modulation
(Acq 2015)

Nanostim Inc
(Acq 2013)

Thoratec Corporation
(Acq 2015)

Apica Cardiovascular Limited
(Acq 2014)

Levitronix Medical div.
(Acq 2011)

Getinge Group
(Heart pump technology div, Acq 2014)

Thermo Cardiosystems
(Acq 2010)

Abbott's core businesses focus on pharmaceuticals, medical devices and nutritional products, which have been supplemented through acquisitions. As of 2016, the firm's divisions are:

Miles D. White is Chairman and (CEO). He joined Abbott in 1984, serving in management positions including senior vice president of diagnostic operations and executive vice president. He was elected to the Board of Directors in April 1998, to Chief Executive Officer in 1998, and to Chairman of the Board in April 1999.

Along with being ranked 134th on the 2015 Fortune 500 list of largest U.S.-based corporation, Abbott was named one of the 2014 Top 20 Employers by the journal Science and listed as a Top 10 company for women by Working Mother magazine and the National Association for Female Executives. The company has also been named one of the World's Most Admired Companies by Fortune magazine every year since 1984 – ranking No. 1 in medical equipment in 2014 and 2015. Abbott has also been recognized for 11 consecutive years for sustainability leadership through its inclusion on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI). The Top Employers Institute designated Abbott as a great place to work in Europe and China in 2014. DiversityInc magazine has recognized Abbott repeatedly as a Top 50 company for diversity; and, additionally, the Dave Thomas Foundation ranked the company as a best company thanks to its generous adoption benefits.

As of 2017 Abbott Laboratories shares are mainly held by institutional investors (The Vanguard Group, BlackRock, State Street Corporation and others).

In March 2003, British company Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) stated its wish to "initiate discussions regarding the applicability of the royalty offset provisions for Humira" (Adalimumab) with Abbott Laboratories in the High Court of London. In December 2004, the judgment ruled for CAT.

Abbott was required to pay CAT US$255 million, some of which was to be passed to its partners in development. Of this sum, the Medical Research Council (United Kingdom) (MRC) received US$191M, and in addition, Abbott was asked to pay the MRC a further US$7.5M over five years from 2006, providing that Humira remains on the market.

On October 2, 2012, the company was charged with a $500 million fine and $198.5 million forfeiture for illegal marketing, and in a plea agreement was assessed the second-largest criminal fine in U.S. history for a drug company. U.S. District Court Judge Samuel G Wilson of the Western District of Virginia imposed it given Abbott's guilty plea related to its unlawful promotion of Depakote for uses not approved by the FDA. Abbott had advertised Depakote to be used to control behavioral disturbances for patients with dementia and schizophrenia, without FDA approval. In addition, Abbott marketed Depakote for other psychiatric conditions in adults, including depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, alcohol and drug withdrawal and psychiatric conditions in children, including conduct disorders, attention deficit disorder and autism. The court also ordered Abbott to a five-year term of probation and court supervision. Shareholders then brought derivative suits against the company directors for breach of fiduciary duty The parties reached a negotiated settlement in which Abbott agreed to beef up its internal controls and paid the plaintiffs' attorney fees.

Since 2015 Abbott is the title sponsor of the World Marathon Majors.