Strategic Alliances and Acquisitions
LRV (Labs Are Vital)
Labs Are Vital™ is an initiative designed to elevate the profile of the lab and its professionals, extend the lab’s influence within the health care community, deliver practical tools, and support professional advocacy
www.labsarevital.com
Artus GmbH
Abbott Laboratories has a worldwide marketing and distribution agreement with German-based Artus GmbH for the first commercial test to detect a form of the coronavirus suspected of causing Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Under the agreement, Artus manufactures the test and after appropriate regulatory approvals Abbott markets and distributes it initially for use on the Roche LightCycler® thermal cycler system in the U.S., Canada, Germany, the U.K. and Austria, supplementing Artus' existing distribution agreements. The test is also available on the Applied Biosystems ABI Prism® 7000 Sequence Detection System for worldwide distribution.
Axis-Shield
Axis-Shield is global manufacturer of in vitro diagnostic kits with a focus on new markers in cardiovascular, rheumatoid, infectious and alcohol-related diseases, diabetes, dementia and near patient testing to facilitate improved patient management. Axis-Shield has partnered with Abbott to introduce several new tests on both the IMx® and AxSYM® systems, Abbott's market-leading automated immunoassay analyzers. News releases and company information are available at www.axis-shield.com
Celera Diagnostics
Abbott Laboratories and Celera Diagnostics, a joint venture between the Applied Biosystems Group and the Celera Genomics Group of Applera Corporation, announced a long-term strategic alliance to develop, manufacture and market a broad range of in vitro molecular diagnostics products for disease detection, disease progression monitoring and therapy selection
The alliance, the most comprehensive in its field, plans to develop and commercialize molecular diagnostic products to detect and manage infectious diseases and chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and auto-immune diseases, central nervous system disorders and cancer. Approximately 250 scientists and engineers from the two companies will initially be devoted to the program, which will encompass a large-scale discovery effort to identify new diagnostic markers.
Celera Diagnostics will focus primarily on genetic marker discovery, new marker validation and assay development. Abbott will focus on product development, sales and marketing — serving as the worldwide distributor for most products developed by the alliance.
Enfer Scientific Ltd.
Also in 2001, Abbott entered into an agreement with Enfer Scientific Ltd. for the marketing and distribution of two diagnostic tests to detect bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in cattle. The tests are used to detect the prion protein associated with BSE, also known as "mad cow" disease.
i-STAT Corporation
In 1998, Abbott strengthened its position in Point-of-Care testing through a strategic alliance with i-STAT Corporation. The i-STAT system consists of a hand-held analyzer and a series of single-use, disposable cartridges which use i-STAT's innovative biosensor technology to perform specific combinations of commonly ordered blood tests. For more information on these products, click here.
Luminex Corporation
Abbott Laboratories and Luminex Corporation have an agreement which grants Abbott license, supply and distribution rights to Luminex®'s proprietary biological testing technologies. The license agreement grants Abbott a worldwide license under Luminex patents, including Luminex's bead-based xMAP™ technology, for the development of assays and proprietary instruments.
The company's xMAP system is an open-architecture, multi-analyte technology platform that delivers fast, accurate and cost-effective bioassay results to markets as diverse as pharmaceutical drug discovery, clinical diagnostics and biomedical research, including the genomics and proteomics research markets.
Medical Analysis Systems
Abbott Laboratories has a co-marketing agreement with Medical Analysis Systems, Inc. (MAS), a Fisher Scientific International Inc. (NYSE: FSH) company, for the VecTest™ family of antigen-based assays, including a rapid test for detecting the West Nile virus in infected mosquitoes.
Under the agreement, MAS will manufacture the tests and Abbott will have rights to market the product worldwide.
Abbott has also developed a laboratory test to detect human antibodies to the West Nile virus in recently infected individuals. The company planned to submit a marketing application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in early summer 2003.
Promega Corporation
Abbott Laboratories and Promega Corporation have an agreement to provide nucleic acid extraction products that will give molecular diagnostics laboratories the ability to further automate testing for infectious diseases.
Under terms of the agreement, the products are to be manufactured by Promega and distributed by Abbott.
The Abbott/Promega collaboration provides a highly sensitive, efficient system to purify and extract viral RNA from patient samples using Abbott's novel magnetic particle technology. The RNA extraction system is used in Abbott's m1000, an automated sample preparation system for molecular diagnostics introduced in 2003.
TheraSense, Inc.
TheraSense develops, manufactures and sells easy to use glucose monitoring systems designed to reduce the pain of testing for people with diabetes. The company began selling its first product, the FreeStyle® blood glucose monitoring system, in June 2000. The FreeStyle system has wide distribution in the United States through national retailers including Walgreens, Wal-Mart, CVS, Eckerd and Rite Aid. The TheraSense headquarters and test strip manufacturing facility are located in Alameda, Calif. Additional information about TheraSense is available at www.therasense.com.
Vysis, Inc.
In 2001, Abbott announced the acquisition of Vysis, Inc., a leading genomic disease management company that develops and markets clinical laboratory products, which provide information critical to the evaluation and management of cancer, prenatal disorders and other genetic diseases. The acquisition further strengthens Abbott's position in molecular diagnostics, with a portfolio of innovative tests for the detection of chromosomal and gene abnormalities.
