Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 8-9

Note 8 — Litigation and Environmental Matters

Abbott has been identified as a potentially responsible party for investigation and cleanup costs at a number of locations in the United States and Puerto Rico under federal and state remediation laws and is investigating potential contamination at a number of company-owned locations. Abbott has recorded an estimated cleanup cost for each site for which management believes Abbott has a probable loss exposure. No individual site cleanup exposure is expected to exceed $3 million, and the aggregate cleanup exposure is not expected to exceed $15 million.

There are a number of patent disputes with third parties who claim Abbott’s products infringe their patents. In one of those disputes, filed in April 2007, Abbott is unable to estimate a range of possible loss, if any, and no reserve has been recorded. Abbott’s acquisition of Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc. resulted in the assumption of various cases and investigations and Abbott has recorded reserves related to several of those cases and investigations.

There are several civil actions pending brought by individuals or entities that allege generally that Abbott and numerous pharmaceutical companies reported false or misleading pricing information relating to the average wholesale price of certain pharmaceutical products in connection with federal, state and private reimbursement. Civil actions have also been brought against Abbott, and in some cases other members of the pharmaceutical industry, by state attorneys general seeking to recover alleged damages on behalf of state Medicaid programs. In May 2006, Abbott was notified that the U.S. Department of Justice intervened in a civil whistle-blower lawsuit alleging that Abbott inflated prices for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursable drugs. Abbott has settled a few of the cases and recorded reserves for its estimated losses in a few other cases, however, Abbott is unable to estimate the range or amount of possible loss for the majority of the cases, and no loss reserves have been recorded for them. Many of the products involved in these cases are Hospira products. Hospira, Abbott’s former hospital products business, was spun off to Abbott’s shareholders in 2004. Abbott retained liability for losses that result from these cases and investigations to the extent any such losses both relate to the sale of Hospira’s products prior to the spin-off of Hospira and relate to allegations that were made in such pending and future cases and investigations that were the same as allegations existing at the date of the spin-off.

There are several civil actions pending brought by state attorneys general and private entities alleging antitrust and unfair competition claims in connection with the sales of TriCor. Abbott licenses TriCor from a third party and the licensor has also been named as a defendant. In the fourth quarter of 2008, settlements were reached in all of these cases except the state attorneys general and indirect purchasers, however, Abbott is unable to estimate a range of loss, if any, and no loss reserves have been recorded for the remaining TriCor cases. There are several civil actions pending brought by private payers and others alleging antitrust claims in connection with the pricing of Norvir.

Within the next year, legal proceedings may occur that may result in a change in the estimated reserves recorded by Abbott. For its legal proceedings and environmental exposures, except as noted above, Abbott estimates the range of possible loss to be from approximately $255 million to $495 million. The recorded reserve balance at December 31, 2008 for these proceedings and exposures was approximately $325 million. These reserve and range amounts include $135 million of settled amounts that were paid in 2009. These reserves represent management’s best estimate of probable loss, as defined by Statement of Financial Accounting Standards No. 5 “Accounting for Contingencies.”

While it is not feasible to predict the outcome of all such proceedings and exposures with certainty, management believes that their ultimate disposition should not have a material adverse effect on Abbott’s financial position, cash flows, or results of operations, except for the cases and investigations discussed in the third paragraph and the patent case discussed in the second paragraph of this footnote, the resolution of which could be material to cash flows or results of operations for a quarter.

Note 9 — Incentive Stock Program

The 1996 Incentive Stock Program authorizes the granting of stock options, replacement stock options, stock appreciation rights, limited stock appreciation rights, restricted stock awards, restricted stock units, performance units and foreign qualified benefits. Stock options, replacement stock options and restricted stock awards and units comprise the majority of benefits that have been granted and are currently outstanding under this program. In 2008, Abbott granted 20,544,577 stock options, 4,425,398 replacement stock options, 829,491 restricted stock awards and 567,624 restricted stock units under the program. The purchase price of shares under option must be at least equal to the fair market value of the common stock on the date of grant, and the maximum term of an option is 10 years. Options vest equally over three years except for replacement options, which vest in six months. Options granted before January 1, 2005 included a replacement feature. Except for options outstanding that have a replacement feature, options granted after December 31, 2004 do not include a replacement feature. When an employee tenders mature shares to Abbott upon exercise of a stock option, a replacement stock option may be granted equal to the amount of shares tendered. Replacement options are granted at the then current market price for a term that expires on the date of the underlying option grant. Upon a change in control of Abbott, all outstanding stock options become fully exercisable, and all terms and conditions of all restricted stock awards and units are deemed satisfied. Restricted stock awards granted generally vest between 3 and 5 years and for restricted stock awards that vest over 5 years, no more than one-third of the award vests in any one year upon Abbott reaching a minimum return on equity target. Restricted stock units vest over three years and upon vesting, the recipient receives one share of Abbott stock for each vested restricted stock unit. The aggregate fair market value of restricted stock awards and units is recognized as expense over the service period. Restricted stock awards and settlement of vested restricted stock units are issued out of treasury shares. Abbott issues new shares for exercises of stock options. Abbott does not have a policy of purchasing its shares relating to its share-based programs. At January 1, 2009, approximately 56 million shares were reserved for future grants under the 1996 Program. Subsequent to year-end, the Board of Directors granted approximately 8 million stock options and restricted stock awards and units from this reserve.

The number of restricted stock awards and units outstanding and the weighted-average grant-date fair value at December 31, 2007 and December 31, 2008 was 3,740,341 and $49.04 and 3,574,445 and $52.21, respectively. The number of restricted stock awards and units, and the weighted-average grant-date fair value, that were granted, vested and lapsed during 2008 were 1,444,465 and $55.53, 1,389,085 and $47.09 and 221,276 and $51.15, respectively. The fair market value of restricted stock awards and units vested in 2008, 2007 and 2006 was $76 million, $114 million and $32 million, respectively.

	Options Outstanding				Exercisable Options
	Shares	Weighted Average Exercise Price	Weighted Average Remaining Life (Years)		Shares	Weighted Average Exercise Price	Weighted Average Remaining Life (Years)
December 31, 2007	132,992,850	$47.19	6.6		88,057,465	$46.22	5.5
Granted	24,969,975	55.79
Exercised	(25,872,104)	45.13
Lapsed	(3,263,586)	51.77
December 31, 2008	128,827,135	$49.16	6.4		87,770,715	$47.39	5.4

	Options Outstanding				Exercisable Options
	Shares	Weighted Average Exercise Price	Weighted Average Remaining Life (Years)		Shares	Weighted Average Exercise Price	Weighted Average Remaining Life (Years)
December 31, 2007	132,992,850	$47.19	6.6		88,057,465	$46.22	5.5
Granted	24,969,975	55.79
Exercised	(25,872,104)	45.13
Lapsed	(3,263,586)	51.77
December 31, 2008	128,827,135	$49.16	6.4		87,770,715	$47.39	5.4

The aggregate intrinsic value of options outstanding and exercisable at December 31, 2008 was $632 million and $559 million, respectively. The total intrinsic value of options exercised in 2008, 2007 and 2006 was $314 million, $613 million and $205 million, respectively. The total unrecognized compensation cost related to all share-based compensation plans at December 31, 2008 amounted to approximately $220 million which is expected to be recognized over the next three years.

Total non-cash compensation expense charged against income in 2008, 2007 and 2006 for share-based plans totaled approximately $350 million, $430 million and $330 million, respectively, and the tax benefit recognized was approximately $117 million, $142 million and $78 million, respectively. Compensation cost capitalized as part of inventory is not significant.

The fair value of an option granted in 2008, 2007 and 2006 was $11.42, $12.88 and $11.72, respectively. The fair value of an option grant was estimated using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model with the following assumptions:

	2008	2007	2006
Risk-free interest rate	3.0%	4.5%	4.6%
Average life of options (years)	6.0	5.9	6.1
Volatility	24.0%	25.0%	28.0%
Dividend yield	2.6%	2.5%	2.7%

The risk-free interest rate is based on the rates available at the time of the grant for zero-coupon U.S. government issues with a remaining term equal to the option’s expected life. The average life of an option is based on both historical and projected exercise and lapsing data. Expected volatility is based on implied volatilities from traded options on Abbott’s stock and historical volatility of Abbott’s stock over the expected life of the option. Dividend yield is based on the option’s exercise price and annual dividend rate at the time of grant.