Global Citizenship

• Innovating for
  the Future
• Enhancing
  Access
• Supporting Patients and Consumers
• Safeguarding the Environment

Our Priorities Innovating for the Future

A Collaborative Approach

Balanced & Efficient R&D

Developing Promising Products

Addressing Neglected Diseases

Responsible Research

Animal Welfare in Biomedical Research

Abbott recently entered into a four-year joint research and nonexclusive licensing agreement with the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) to undertake research on new treatments for several of the world's most neglected tropical diseases, including Chagas disease, helminth infections, leishmaniasis and sleeping sickness. Through this collaboration, DNDi and Abbott scientists will focus on discovering and advancing unique antimicrobial agents to combat these neglected diseases. Here, Dale Kempf, Ph.D., of Abbott shares ideas with Shing Chang, Ph.D., of DNDi, right.

Abbott was founded more than 120 years ago to pursue science and innovation in health care, and our passion for researching and developing sustainable solutions to health care challenges continues to drive us. Each of our core businesses – in medical devices and diagnostics, medicines and nutritional therapies – continues to invest in new research, new technologies and new approaches. We continue to break new ground in such areas as cancer, diabetes, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease, as well as numerous other health care challenges facing both developed and developing nations around the world.

Our ongoing investment in research and development – $4.1 billion in 2011 – allows us to foster new insights and solutions to health care challenges and then translate them into life-enhancing products with strong commercial viability. Our commitment to innovation extends beyond our own laboratories. By pursuing three principles – collaboration, balance and efficiency – we seek to maximize the impact of our research and development work.

Our strong roster of new products currently in development demonstrates that these three principles are paying off. Over the past few years, we've tripled the number of new molecular entities in our pharmaceutical pipeline. We now have 30 compounds in development, along with dozens of nutritional products and medical devices.

Each of Abbott’s businesses is working to advance patient care globally with innovative products we develop in response to vital health care needs. Chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease, long common in developed nations, now are endemic in developing countries as well. In response, Abbott is leveraging our expertise and resources to fight familiar diseases in new environments. In the meantime, we are partnering with numerous academics, nonprofits, governments and private companies to combat many of the world’s neglected tropical diseases – lending our expertise in disease diagnosis and treatment, as well as the discovery and development of new medicines.