Nutritional Products

Nutritional Products

Key franchises

Abbott offers some of the world’s most trusted pediatric nutrition, adult nutrition, therapeutic nutrition, performance nutrition and nutritious snack products, including Similac Advance EarlyShield, Gain Advance, PediaSure, Ensure, Glucerna and EAS brands. We also provide specially formulated medical nutrition products for patients with unique dietary needs due to illness or injury.

Nutritional Products - Year in Review

In 2008, in the United States, Abbott introduced a number of new products, including Similac Advance EarlyShield infant formula, designed to be closer to breast milk. The Similac Advance EarlyShield brand is available in a unique, redesigned SimplePac container. We also expanded our sales and marketing efforts for nutritional products in international markets, such as Latin America and Asia.

U.S. nutrition: expanding our product portfolio
In the multi-billion-dollar U.S. nutrition market, we continue to launch new and improved products to better meet the changing needs of consumers and health care professionals. For instance, Similac Advance EarlyShield sets a new standard in infant nutrition and is closer than ever to breast milk. It’s the only infant formula that has a unique blend of prebiotics, nucleotides and antioxidants to support a baby’s natural immune system. We introduced Similac Advance EarlyShield in our new SimplePac package — redesigned with parent-friendly features, such as a one-hand grip and a hinged lid with a secure scoop, which make the product more convenient to use. In the United States, we’ve upgraded our powdered Similac product line to SimplePac packaging.

Abbott’s leading pediatric product portfolio also includes Similac Sensitive for babies with formula-tolerance issues; Similac Go & Grow, designed for older babies and toddlers; and Similac Organic, the first certified organic infant formula from a major-brand manufacturer. We also market PediaSure, a complete, balanced nutritional formula for toddlers and children, and Pedialyte, which helps children maintain electrolytes and avoid dehydration.

Abbott is also dedicated to developing therapeutic nutrition products for people with special dietary needs. For instance, all of our Glucerna products are specially formulated for people with diabetes and contain unique carbohydrate blends that are designed to help manage blood glucose response. We also market Juven therapeutic nutrition drink mix to help patients build lean body mass and support wound healing.

As a leader in the adult nutrition and nutritious snacks segment, we market a number of products designed for active adults seeking convenient, balanced nutrition. Our Ensure, ZonePerfect, EAS Myoplex and EAS brands all offer a variety of snack and meal options. In our ZonePerfect product line, we recently introduced new dark chocolate flavors.

International nutrition: growth in emerging markets
Increasing personal incomes and growing populations in emerging markets, such as China, Southeast Asia and Latin America, are driving demand for our nutritional products. The fastest-growing segments are products for toddlers and children. As a result, demand for Abbott’s pediatric nutritional products — such as Similac Advance infant formula, Gain Advance formula for older infants and PediaSure formula for children — has increased significantly.

We have focused our business to address these developing opportunities and continue to invest in new products that will meet the needs of our growing customer base. In early 2009, we opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Singapore that will help us meet growing global demand.