Abbott has more than 30 devices across our cardiovascular, vision care and diabetes pipelines, including next-generation lens technologies and game-changing innovations, such as our bioresorbable vascular scaffold. Following are highlights:
medical devices in development to treat a broad range of diseases — from cataracts to coronary artery disease.
Cardiovascular
Abbott is working on well-staged advances and revolutionary technologies for the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD), endovascular diseases and mitral regurgitation (MR).
The most common form of heart disease, CAD, occurs when arteries are narrowed by plaque. Abbott’s Xience Prime drug-eluting stent (DES) is available in Europe and is designed to improve deliverability and access to long lesions in the artery. Our Xience Nano DES, also available in Europe, is designed to treat small vessels. Both are in development in the United States.
Absorb is the world’s first drug-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffold for CAD. It has the potential to change the way physicians treat CAD, as it does what no DES has done —dissolve over time when the vessel is treated, much like sutures are absorbed after securing a wound. Absorb is available in Europe and is in development in the United States.
Our MitraClip device is designed to treat significant MR, the most common heart-valve defect. MR can lead to irregular heartbeats, heart failure and stroke that can cause serious complications, including death. The MitraClip system is designed to allow minimally invasive repair of the mitral valve to reduce MR. It’s available in Europe and is an investigational device under FDA review in the United States.
Diabetes
Currently affecting more than 220 million people worldwide, diabetes incidence is expected to increase rapidly over the next decade. More careful management of diabetes has the potential to greatly reduce the effects of the disease. Abbott is developing faster, easier-to-use blood glucose monitoring systems.
Vision Care
In our vision care pipeline, we expect to deliver approximately 20 new products and technology advancements over the next five years. In our market-leading LASIK business, we’re expanding our proprietary laser platform into new vision correction applications, including cataract surgery. We also are developing new diagnostic instruments and treatments to improve vision outcomes. We continue to expand our portfolio of premium and standard intraocular lenses, or IOLs, which are implanted in a patient’s eye after the removal of the natural lens that has become clouded by a cataract.
Abbott takes a balanced approach to pharmaceutical R&D. In 2010, we made progress advancing our internal pipeline and added late-stage pipeline opportunities through licensing and acquisitions. Following are highlights:
We have tripled the number of new molecular entities in clinical development in our pharmaceutical pipeline over the last four years.
Oncology
Cancer causes one in every eight deaths worldwide. As the population ages, the need for effective cancer treatments will continue to increase. Our pipeline includes a number of molecules in clinical development for more than a dozen different cancer types, including some of the most widespread and difficult to treat.
Our acquisition of Facet Biotech Corporation included several oncology collaborations, including elotuzumab, which is a humanized antibody in late-stage development for multiple myeloma, a type of cancer found in bone marrow. Elotuzumab may represent a new approach to treating the disease, as it allows the immune system to selectively kill myeloma cells.
Abbott’s PARP (Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase) inhibitor in development interrupts the DNA repair process in tumor cells and may enhance the effectiveness of current cancer therapies, such as chemotherapy. It’s being studied in a variety of cancer types, including breast cancer.
Our multitargeted kinase inhibitor is thought to stop the progression of cancer by cutting off the blood supply to a tumor. It is in clinical trials for solid tumors, including a Phase III study for liver cancer. Abbott’s inhibitor of Bcl-2 proteins represents a new class of investigational drugs that attacks cancer cells in a fundamentally new way — by accelerating their death. It’s in Phase II development for several cancer types.
Immunology
Autoimmune diseases impact millions of people worldwide. They develop when an individual’s immune system attacks his own organs, tissues and cells. Our scientific experience in developing Humira serves as a foundation for our immunology research.
Humira, Abbott’s biologic for six different autoimmune diseases, is in development for additional indications and under U.S. and European regulatory review for ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory condition of the large intestine.
Our combination biologic platform, called DVD-Ig (dual-variable domain immunoglobulin), shows potential in complex conditions such as cancer and autoimmune diseases, where multiple pathways are involved. The ultimate goal of this technology is to improve efficacy beyond current treatments.
people have Alzheimer’s disease. This figure is expected to double by 2015 as worldwide populations continue to age.
women worldwide suffer from endometriosis, a condition that can cause pain and infertility.
Neuroscience
Abbott is developing treatments to address schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer’s disease, chronic pain and Parkinson’s disease, conditions that impact millions of patients worldwide.
Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is a disease of the central nervous system that causes lesions in the brain and spinal cord. It affects more than a million people worldwide. Daclizumab is a humanized antibody, in development with a partner, for the treatment of Relapsing Remitting MS, the most common form of the disease. The Phase III study, currently under way, is designed to determine the efficacy of daclizumab in preventing MS relapse.
Alzheimer’s disease
Alzheimer’s disease gradually destroys a person’s memory and ability to learn, communicate and perform daily activities. While current therapies may help patients maintain cognitive abilities or control symptoms, there is still tremendous room for improvement in the treatment of these patients. Abbott has a number of compounds in development targeting new therapeutic approaches for this disease.
Pain
Chronic pain affects more than 70 million people in the United States and Europe, and up to 30 percent of patients receive inadequate pain relief with current therapies. Abbott is pursuing a number of approaches for the treatment of pain.
Parkinson’s Disease
Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative neurological disorder that affects more than 5 million people worldwide. Duodopa, currently approved in Europe for advanced Parkinson’s disease, is in Phase III development in the United States.
Women’s Health
Endometriosis and uterine fibroids are conditions associated with a number of symptoms including menstrual pain and infertility. There continues to be significant need for effective treatments to address both of these highly prevalent conditions. Elagolix may reduce symptoms through partial suppression of estrogen. It is in late-stage development for endometriosis-related pain and in early-stage development for uterine fibroids.
adults in the United States and Europe have chronic kidney disease, and the number of patients is rapidly increasing.
of hepatitis C infections become chronic, which can potentially lead to long-term complications.
Chronic Kidney Disease
Chronic kidney disease (CKD), the progressive loss of kidney function, affects millions of people around the world. Prevalence is expected to increase in coming years, driven by higher incidence of diabetes, hypertension, obesity and an aging population. Current treatments slow the progression of CKD; however, many patients ultimately progress to end-stage renal disease and dialysis. The five-year survival rate for CKD is lower than many forms of cancer. Abbott has two late-stage compounds in development for the treatment of CKD.
Bardoxolone, in late-stage development, is a first-in-class compound that could change the treatment landscape for CKD, possibly preventing patients from progressing to later stages of the disease and dialysis. Abbott has exclusive rights to develop bardoxolone outside the United States, excluding certain Asian markets.
Atrasentan, currently in Phase II studies, is being developed to help slow CKD progression in patients with diabetic kidney disease.
Hepatitis C
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) affects approximately 180 million people worldwide. It can lead to long-term complications, including severe scarring of the liver, liver cancer or death. The current standard of care for most HCV infections requires 48 weeks of treatment and leads to a cure in fewer than half of patients. Our goal is to find new treatment options that shorten the duration of treatment, improve tolerability and increase cure rates.
Our discovery and development of protease inhibitors for the treatment of HIV positions us well for similar success in HCV. The HCV treatment landscape is expected to change rapidly over the next several years, and this market will evolve considerably even after the next generation of therapies comes to market. Abbott is one of a few companies with several drug classes in clinical development — including protease, polymerase and NS5A inhibitors. We are also studying multi-drug combinations to identify optimal treatments for a broad range of HCV patients.
Abbott is changing disease diagnosis. By providing better tests and instruments to health care providers, patients will receive treatment faster and benefit from a more targeted approach.
Abbott is developing leading-edge, science-based nutrition products and improving formulations of our trusted brands to better serve the nutritional needs of consumers and patients.
Personalized Medicine
Abbott is developing more sensitive molecular tests that can predict which patients are likely to benefit most from a particular therapy. We’re working to develop tests to identify patients who are best suited for certain non-small-cell lung and skin cancer treatments.
Biomarkers
Abbott is studying a number of biomarkers — DNA sequences that are associated with particular diseases — in order to develop new diagnostic tools that could improve patient care. Better understanding of diseases may enable faster diagnosis and more personalized treatment. We are investigating new biomarkers in cancer, stroke and diabetes, as well as cardiac and kidney diseases.
PlexID
Abbott is changing the way viruses, bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms are identified in research laboratories. Within eight hours, the PlexID High-Throughput Bioidentification System has the potential to detect virtually all microorganisms in a given sample without requiring technicians to predict the testing outcome. Health officials have used the PlexID to identify new virus strains.
Science and Nutrition
Abbott is focused on improving six areas through nutrition: immunity, cognition, lean body mass, inflammation, metabolism and tolerance. We expect to launch approximately 20 new products to consumers in 2011. In 2010, Abbott introduced several new products, including Ensure with Revigor and PediaSure SideKicks.
After the age of 40, it is not uncommon for adults to lose 8 percent of their muscle mass every 10 years. Exercise alone might not be enough to prevent this loss. Ensure Muscle Health features Revigor, a source of HMB (beta-hydroxy-beta methylbutyrate, an amino-acid metabolite), and protein to help rebuild muscle and strength lost naturally over time. Ensure Immune Health offers targeted nutrition to help support the immune system. Ensure Bone Health with Caltrius provides calcium, vitamin D and 10 grams of protein.
Abbott continues to improve our pediatric products to better meet the nutritional needs of babies and children. Our new PediaSure SideKicks shakes are designed for kids who are on track with growth but can use extra nutrients to fill nutritional gaps.