Abbott Laboratories Employer Profile

Abbott Laboratories has been in the business of improving lives for more than a century. Our 56,000 employees around the world are dedicated to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceutical, diagnostic, nutritional and hospital products. To improve lives by providing cost-effective health care products and services. That's the mission of Abbott Laboratories. And it's the guiding force behind who we are and what we do.

With a shared commitment to the advancement of medical science, Abbott's employees worldwide with a presence in more than 130 countries have devoted their careers to achieving our ambitious mission. Around the world, people demand the highest quality in every product the company manufactures.

This dedication to excellence has led to an outstanding record of long-term financial performance and continuous growth. Abbott consistently ranks high in the performance measures that determine the Fortune 500 and other comparisons of the world's leading corporations. In 1998, the company's sales and net earnings were $12.5 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively, with diluted earnings per share of $1.51.

Everyday, Abbott scientists are making news by discovering innovative medical technologies to improve your health. Their efforts support our overriding objective: to improve lives.

Since our beginning, in 1888, Abbott has focused on producing innovative solutions for the rapidly changing health care marketplace. More than a century ago, 30-year-old Wallace C. Abbott, M.D., began making a new form of medicine. Using the active part of medicinal plants, he formed tiny pills, called "dosimetric granules," which provided a precisely measured amount of drug. Within two years, the demand for these granules far exceeded the needs of his own medical practice. From a small operation based in Dr. Abbott's Chicago apartment, Abbott Laboratories has evolved into one of the world's leading health care companies. Today, Abbott is involved in five broad business arenas:

Nutritional Products: Abbott's adult and medical nutritionals help promote, maintain and restore physical health – the key to fighting off the costly complications that can result from inadequate nutrition. Abbott's pediatric nutritionals help ensure that infants and children get the balanced nutrition they need for healthy development.

Pharmaceutical Products: Abbott's innovative pharmaceuticals include anti-infective, cardiovascular, neuroscience, hormonal and anti-ulcer drugs. Newly discovered and developed drugs and new treatment indications for existing products, offer physicians new options for enhancing health through non-invasive drug therapy.

Diagnostic Products: Abbott is the global leader in the business of in vitro diagnostics, which is the laboratory testing of body fluids. The company also is a leader in testing for HIV infection, hepatitis and in the fastest-growing segment of diagnostics, blood glucose self-testing for people with diabetes.

Hospital Products: Abbott offers a full line of anesthetics, injectable drugs, infection-control products, diagnostic imaging agents, I.V. solutions, advanced drug-delivery systems and other medical specialty products for hospitals, clinical labs and alternate health care sites around the world.

Chemical and Agricultural Products: Our expertise in human health has led us into a number of related fields. In addition to being a world leader in the production of environmentally compatible insecticides and plant growth regulators, Abbott has a growing animal health business and provides efficient bulk drug development and manufacturing for internal and external customers.

Abbott employs a wide range of professionals with diverse backgrounds and qualifications. Interested in a challenging career? Abbott offers college students, recent graduates and experienced professionals an extraordinary variety of opportunities to fulfill that goal.

Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at: http://www.abbott.com/