There was nothing ordinary about the first quarter of 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic spurred shelter-in-place orders globally, nearly halted non-essential travel and tested healthcare systems worldwide.

Despite this unprecedented time, Abbott remains resilient with its diversified business model.

For the quarter, our worldwide sales of $7.7 billion increased 4.3% on an organic basis (2.5% reported), led by a strong performance in Diabetes Care, Nutrition, Established Pharmaceuticals, and Molecular and Rapid Diagnostics.

Our life-changing technologies, innovative pipeline and focused execution continue to drive growth and shareholder value.

Here are some key highlights:

• We launched three tests for COVID-19. One test runs on our m2000 RealTime lab-based platform and the other on our ID NOW rapid point-of-care platform, which delivers positive results in as little as five minutes. On April 15, we launched our third test for COVID-19. This test is a serology test — also called an antibody test — that helps to detect the IgG antibody to SARS-CoV-2. The new antibody test will be used on our ARCHITECT i1000SR and i2000SR laboratory instruments. While molecular tests identify people with the virus, antibody tests can tell whether someone has been previously infected.
• Demand for FreeStyle Libre, our world-leading glucose monitoring system, continued to increase with 62.5% organic growth in the quarter (59.3% reported). We expanded reimbursement coverage for FreeStyle Libre in Japan to include people living with type 2 diabetes using multiple daily injections of insulin. And recently, we announced the approval of our FreeStyle Libre 14 day system for use in U.S. hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic to remotely monitor glucose levels and glucose history of those with diabetes who can scan by themselves.
• Double-digit growth in Heart Failure was driven by our HeartMate 3, a heart pump for advanced heart failure patients. During the quarter, we received U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for a less-invasive surgical approach for HeartMate 3, enabling it to be implanted through an incision in the chest wall versus open heart surgery.
• Worldwide Nutrition sales experienced 7.3% organic growth (6.3% reported) during the quarter due to increased demand, most notably in U.S. Pediatric Nutrition, in advance of shelter-in-places restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For full financials, you can read our press release, or take a look at some additional materials below:

Abbott President and CEO Robert Ford shared his views on first-quarter performance: