Abbott Clinic history

He incorporated the Abbott Alkaloidal Company, a medical publisher and manufacturer, in 1894.

The company expanded outside the US in 1907, adding an affiliate in London.

With the onset of the Second World War, Abbott was requested by the US Government to join a consortium of pharmaceutical manufacturers to support wartime efforts through the production of penicillin. It developed Pentothal, the world’s most widely used anaesthetic, in 1935.

Its 1964 acquisition of M&R Dietetics made Abbott a world leader in nutrition, its largest business segment by sales at present.

In 1972, the company introduced one of the first antibody-based tests for hepatitis and continued to contribute new, more sensitive tests in the years that followed.

Some of Abbott’s most significant scientific contributions are in the area of HIV/AIDS. In 1985, the company developed the first licensed test to detect HIV antibodies in the blood and today remains a leader in HIV diagnostics.

Volwiler and Tabern were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame 50 years later, in 1986.

In 2000 the company's sales and net earnings were $13.7 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, with diluted earnings per share of $1.78.

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001, sales rose 18 percent to $16.29 billion; net income fell 44 percent to $1.55 billion.

With more than $22 billion in 2006 sales, Abbott’s 65,000 employees work to address critical needs across the health care spectrum.

Their latest funding was raised on Mar 15, 2011 from a Debt Financing round.

The company was founded by Chicago physician Wallace Calvin Abbott in 1888 to formulate known drugs; today, it sells medical devices, diagnostics, branded generic medicines and nutritional products. It split off its research-based pharmaceuticals business into AbbVie in 2013.