Abbott Laboratories: Dosimetric Granules, BinaxNOW and the Formula Shortage

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In 1888 Dr. Wallace C. Abbott, a 30-year-old University of Michigan graduate practicing in Chicago's Ravenswood neighborhood, tackled the unreliable strength of liquid plant extracts. He isolated active alkaloids such as morphine, codeine, quinine and strychnine and pressed them into small, shelf-stable dosimetric granules. Abbott reached London by 1907 and North Chicago by the 1920s. In 1964 it merged with Ross Laboratories, maker of Similac, adding steady nutrition revenue later joined by Pedialyte and Ensure. It bought Knoll for nearly $7 billion, TheraSense in 2004 and Guidant's vascular unit in 2006.

In 2013 CEO Miles D. White spun the research drug business off as AbbVie, and Abbott bought St. Jude Medical for $25 billion and Alere for nearly $6 billion in 2017. The FreeStyle Libre glucose sensor won FDA approval that year. Alere's testing capacity powered the 13-minute ID NOW in March 2020 and the roughly $5, 15-minute BinaxNOW antigen card in August 2020, with over 400 million COVID-19 tests shipped by early 2021. In 2022 Abbott shut its main Michigan formula plant and recalled formula after reports of bacterial infections in infants, including deaths, triggering a national shortage. A 2024 jury ordered nearly $500 million over claims its premature infant formula raised the risk of necrotizing enterocolitis.

• In 1966 federal investigators found Abbott had sold the powder equivalent of two million methamphetamine doses to a criminal distributor on Long Island.
• Settlements include $875 million by subsidiary TAP Pharmaceutical in 2001, $600 million after the 2003 Operation Headwaters sting, and a $500 million fine in 2012 over Depakote marketing.
• Subsidiary Arriva Medical paid $160 million in 2021 over Medicare glucose monitor billing, including for deceased patients.
• A 2023 recall of Proclaim and Infinity deep brain stimulators followed 73 reported injuries tied to an MRI mode software fault.
• Abbott stayed in Russia after the 2022 invasion as a top branded generics supplier, earning a D from the Yale School of Management.