“Abbott Laboratories is one of the US’s top health care products makers. The company’s pharmaceuticals include HIV treatment Norvir, rheumatoid arthritis therapy Humira, and obesity drug Meridia. Its nutritional products division makes such well-known brands as Similac infant formula and the Ensure line of nutrition supplements. Abbott Labs also makes laboratory diagnostic systems and devices to treat vascular disease. The company sells its products in more than 130 countries through affiliates and distributors.”[1]
Contents
Criticism
Worker Rights
- Abbott Suit Granted Class-Action Status, January 4, 2006. “A federal judge has granted class-action status to a lawsuit accusing Abbott Laboratories Inc. of cheating older workers out of retirement benefits when it spun off its hospital equipment business in 2004… The plaintiffs claim North Chicago, Ill.-based Abbott, a manufacturer of pharmaceutical and medical products, spun off the unit containing many of its older workers because they were near to claiming rich retirement benefits from Abbott.”
Political Influence
- In the 2008 U.S. election, Abbott Laboratories gave $526,497 to Federal candidates through its political action committee – 42% to Democrats and 58% to Republicans.
- In 2006, it gave $566,474 – 18% to Democrats and 82% to Republicans.[2]
- In 2007, Abbott Laboratories spent $4,640,000 for lobbying.[3]
Environment
- Illegal GMO’s Found in Baby Formula, Potato Chips, India – June 21st, 2001. “In a press conference held in the Defence Colony market in Delhi, Greenpeace announced that Genetically Engineered (GE) food have illegally entered the Indian market. Greenpeace provided evidence of two popular products – Pringles Potato Chips and Isomil Baby food containing genetically engineered ingredients. Tests conducted by an independent laboratory, Hong Kong DNA Chips, prove that Procter and Gamble’s Pringles Potato Crisps and Abbott Laboratories Isomil baby food both manufactured in and imported from the USA contained genetically engineered ingredients.”
Business Ethics
- Miles D. White, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abbott Laboratories, had total pay of $33,346,260 in 2008 according to Forbes.[4]
- Doctors Call for Abbott Boycott on AIDS Price Hike, February 10, 2004. “A group of AIDS doctors on Tuesday called for a boycott of drugs made by Abbott Laboratories Inc. to protest the company’s recent price hike on an important HIV medicine. Abbott in December raised the price of the drug Norvir, a key component of many AIDS-fighting cocktails, by 401 percent. The increase has generated “a never-before-seen level of outrage” among physicians, said Dr. Benjamin Young, an HIV specialist at Rose Medical Center in Denver. “This is an unprecedented, unethical price increase,” Young said in an interview. About 200 physicians have agreed to boycott Abbott drugs in favor of alternatives whenever medically appropriate, Young said. Norvir has no equivalent, but physicians can find substitutes for other Abbott products, Young said.”
- Proposed Settlement In Abbott’s Norvir Class Action, August 15, 2008. “Abbott Laboratories has agreed to pay a $10 million and $27.5 million, depending on pending court rulings, to settle nationwide consumer claims of being overcharged for Abbott’s HIV/AIDs drug Norvir.”
- Abbott Laboratories censured for lapdancing junket, February 14, 2006. Abbott Laboratories has been disciplined by The Association of the British Pharmaceutical Authority (ABPI), the industry watchdog group in the U.K., after admitting that its staff entertained doctors with greyhound racing, lapdancing, and Centre Court tickets at Wimbledon. The watchdog group ruled that the scale of the hospitality to doctors, who might be influenced to prescribe Abbott Laboratories’ drugs, breached its code of practice.
- Drug Makers Pay, March 10, 2008. “A lawsuit was filed by consumers and insurance companies against nine leading pharmaceutical companies, including healthcare companies Abbott Laboratories (ABT) and Watson Pharmaceuticals (WPI), over the Average Wholesale Price or AWC of certain prescription drugs. The suit, filed in 2002, claimed that the companies deliberately inflated the average wholesale prices of the drugs.”
Praise
Human Rights
Abbott Laboratories received a high score (80 out of 100) from the Human Rights Campaign which puts out a buying guide that rates corporations on policies that affect gay and lesbian employees.http://www.hrc.org/buyersguide
Brands and Subsidiaries
Some brands: Abbotic (clarithromycin); ABBOTT PRISM; AneuVysion; Biaxin; Celex (clarithromycin); Depakote ER (divalproex sodium extended-release tablets); Ectiva (sibutramine HCl monohydrate); Isoptin (verapamil hydrochloride); Kaletra; Macladin (clarithromycin); NeoSure; Odrik (trandolapril); PaediaSure; Reduxade (sibutramine HCl monohydrate); SevoFlo (sevoflurane); Vicodin (hydrocodone bitartrate and acetaminophen tablets, USP);List of brands
Some subsidiaries:
Abbott Diabetes Care Inc.; Abbott GmbH & Co. KG; Abbott Nutrition;[5] Aeropharm Technology LLC; AVI Corp.; Bioabsorbable Vascular Solutions Inc; BioDisplay Technologies Inc; CG Nutritionals; CMM Transportation; Gene-Trak Inc; IEP Pharmaceutical Devices LLC; i-STAT Europe Inc.; IMTC Technologies Inc.; Integrated Vascular Systems Inc.; IVD Instruments LLC; Knoll Pharmaceutical Company; Kos Life Sciences LLC; Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Murex Diagnostics Inc.; Pegasus One LLC; PDD LLC; S&G Nutritionals Inc.; Solartek Products Inc.; Spine Next America Corp.; Swan-Myers Incorporated; TAP Finance Inc.; TAP Pharmaceuticals Inc.; Tobal Products Incorporated; Vectoris Corporation; Woodside Biomedical Inc.; X Technologies Inc.; ZonePerfect Nutrition Company;
Some international subsidiaries:
Abbott Laboratories Argentina, S.A.; Murex Argentina S.A.; EAS Australia Pty Ltd; Experimental and Applied Sciences Canada Inc.; Toba Pharma Inc., Canada; Guidant International Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., China; Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.; Abbott Limited Egypt LLC; Vysis S.A., France; Heidelberg Innovation GmbH G, Germany; Abind Healthcare Private Limited, India; P. T. Abbott Indonesia; Abbott Mature Products International, Ireland; BiodivYsio Limited, Ireland; Carotid International Systems Limited, Ireland; Mednova Limited, Ireland; Salviac Limited, Ireland; Knoll-Ravizza Farmaceutici S.p.A, Italy; Consolidated Laboratories Limited, Jamaica; Abbott Vascular Japan Co. Ltd.; Tofuku Shoji K.K., Japan; Abbott Korea Limited; Abbott Laboratories Baltics, Latvia; Abbott Middle East S.A.R.L., Lebanon; Abbott Laboratories (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.;
Abbott Laboratories de Mexico, S.A. de C.V.; Abbott Laboratories (Mozambique), Limitada, Abbott Knoll Investments B.V., Netherlands; EAS International B.V., Netherlands; EAS Asia/Pacific Limited, New Zealand; Abbott Laboratories (Pakistan) Limited, Abbott Overseas, S.A., Panama; Knoll LLC, Puerto Rico; Abbott Laboratories (Philippines); Abbott Laboratories Poland Sp.z.o.o.; Abbottfarma—Promocao de Produtos Farmaceuticos Limitada, Portugal; Abbott Manufacturing Singapore Private Limited;
Experimental & Applied Sciences (Pty) Ltd., South Africa; Liade S.A., Spain; Abbott Scandinavia A.B., Sweden; Abbott Liestal AG, Switzerland; MediSense Britain Limited, United Kingdom; Abbott Laboratories, C.A., Venezuela;Full list