Pharmaceutical company intelligence reports from Espicom provide a full review of the company's activities together with five-year sales forecasts for its key products. The company's financial performance is covered in-depth, from its latest results to a complete analysis of its latest full fiscal year and an outlook for the future. A section on company strategy covers mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, key agreements, products and R&D. An overview of key products and R&D is followed by a comprehensive review of the company's product portfolio and research and development pipeline by therapeutic area. In addition, supplementary appendices provide more in-depth information on financials, agreements and corporate events. Abbott researches, develops, manufactures and sells a broad and diversified line of healthcare products and services, comprising mainly prescription pharmaceuticals, nutritionals, hospital pharmaceuticals and diagnostics, in more than 130 countries. A major component of Abbott's operations is its 50:50 joint venture with Takeda, TAP Pharmaceuticals, which mainly markets prescription pharmaceuticals in Japan.

Abbott markets pharmaceuticals in the following therapeutic areas: Inflammation and Immunology; Neuroscience and Pain Care; Anti-infectives; Virology; Cardiovascular; Metabolics; Gastrointestinal and Oncology. The company's research and development efforts are principally focused on Inflammation and Immunology, Neuroscience and Pain Care, Virology, Metabolics and Oncology.

In order to strengthen its new product pipeline and reverse the erosion of the company's growth that has occurred in previous years and most significantly in 2006, Abbott's senior management team continues to focus on three primary goals: building core franchises in important areas of medicine, leveraging the breadth and diversity of its healthcare businesses to provide solutions for patient and healthcare professionals, and strengthening its scientific capability. Abbott is committed to adding new product lines that are complementary to its existing businesses and will establish it in markets that offer new growth. Its acquisition of the pharmaceutical business of BASF, Perclose, the urology business of Kanoldt and various anaesthesia products from GlaxoSmithKline exemplifies this strategy.

To further strengthen the business and sustain success in the Pharmaceuticals segment, Abbott continues to raise investment in pharmaceutical R&D. The pharmaceutical business now has a competitive pipeline and a disciplined decision-making process that is focused on specific therapeutic areas. In addition, the Pharmaceutical Products Group is becoming a globally integrated organisation. Abbott has integrated functions that were separate, such as pharmaceutical research and development, and is continuing to integrate other functions such as manufacturing operations, into a single global structure with common goals and priorities.

Abbott has been selling pharmaceuticals for over one hundred years and has firmly established itself as one of the leading players in this market, regularly featuring among the top fifteen companies in terms of pharmaceutical revenue. The year ending 31st December 2006 was a particularly trying period for the company as although sales of several products exceeded the US$1 billion mark, overall sales growth was less than 1 per cent. The most significant development in terms of sales in 2006, was the termination of Abbott's distribution agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim. Effective 1st January 2006, Abbott ceased to distribute not only Mobic, formerly the second largest selling product in the company's portfolio, but also Flomax and on 31st March 2006, Abbott also ceased to market Micardis. With the loss of these products, especially Mobic, Abbott has recorded its first year-on-year decline in pharmaceutical sales in recent years.