One-Time Gain Helps to Boost Abbott's Profit 53% by Offsetting Lower Sales

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Abbott Laboratories (NYSE:ABT) (Abbott Park, Illinois) has announced that it posted a first-quarter 2009 profit of $1.44 billion, up 53.4% compared with $938 million year over year. The increase is attributed to a one-time gain of $505 million after taxes related to a partnership with Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical Company (TYO:4502) (Osaka).

Sales for the quarter totaled $6.72 billion, down 0.7% compared with $6.78 billion in the same period last year. Sales of Abbott's drug Humira, approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's disease and other conditions, rose 16.7% to $1.02 billion. However, sales of Depakote, used to treat seizure disorders and the manic phase of bipolar disorder, dropped 64.5% to $129 million as a result of generic-drug competition.

Abbott's smaller business units Nutritional Products and Medical Products posted sales gains of 6.4% and 42.7%, respectively. The large increase in Medical Products is attributed to coronary stent sales, which jumped 112.4% to $402 million for the quarter. The Diagnostics business unit, experienced a 1.8% decline in sales.

Industrial Info's 2009 Pharmaceutical & Biotech Industry Outlook packages useful, timely and essential information and statistics into one easy-to-use format. Features include upcoming trends, vital plant and project statistics, as well as a capital and maintenance spending analysis derived from our information databases. The Pharmaceutical Tracker - Online Database contains operational plant data, as well as sites under development in the Pharmaceutical and Biotech Industry. Individual active capital and maintenance spending reports spanning North America are also covered within the Pharmaceutical Tracker.

Industrial Info is tracking 12 active Abbott projects in the U.S. worth $172 million combined. The projects range from $1 million maintenance shutdowns to a $150 million grassroot research center.

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