11. Abbott (medical device segment)
Revenue: $12,239,000,000*
Abbott Park, Ill.
2019 rank: 11
R&D spend: $1,200,000,000
*Fiscal year ended 12/31/2019
Innovative products have enabled Abbott to continue to grow amid the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first nine months of 2020, Abbott sales were up 9.6% year-over-year — with diagnostics up 38.2% and medical devices up 3.4%. Abbott’s COVID-19 testing products include its BinaxNow COVID-19 Ag Card, a speedy antigen test for the coronavirus that can be directly read off the testing card. Abbott secured an FDA EUA for the card tests in August, and the U.S. federal government soon agreed to pay $760 million for 150 million of the tests, but in early November, the FDA raised questions about the accuracy of antigen tests. Abbott also won FDA permission for the use of its FreeStyle Libre continuous glucose monitoring system in hospital settings during the pandemic, opening a potential new market for the popular devices. Over the summer, the FDA cleared the FreeStyle Libre 2 system, followed by a CE Mark in September for the next-gen FreeStyle Libre 3. Another major CE Mark involved MitraClip G4, the latest version of the company’s transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) system. The MitraClip, in fact, won the 2020 Prix Galien USA Award for Best Medical Technology. Abbott and Edwards Lifesciences in July settled all outstanding patent disputes related to transcatheter mitral and tricuspid repair products, hopefully allowing the companies to better focus on innovation in the space. – CN
Key personnel: Miles White, board chair; Robert Ford, president & CEO; Hubert Allen, EVP, general counsel & secretary; John Capek, EVP, ventures; Lisa Earnhardt, EVP, medical devices; Robert Funck, EVP, finance & CFO; John Ginascol, EVP, core diagnostics; Mary Moreland, EVP, human resources; Andrea Wainer, EVP, rapid & molecular diagnostics; Chuck Brynelsen, SVP, Abbott Vascular; Michael Dale, SVP, structural heart; Jaime Contreras, SVP, core laboratory, diagnostics, commercial operations; Scott House, SVP, quality assurance, regulatory & engineering services; Michael Pederson, SVP, electrophysiology & heart failure; Christopher Scoggins, SVP, rapid diagnostics; Jared Watkin, SVP, diabetes care; Randel Woodgrift, SVP, cardiac rhythm management