Abbott Closes Acquisition of Alere

(Waltham, MA; USA), following the receipt of all regulatory clearances required for the closing.

Abbott is a global healthcare company with a portfolio of offerings in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic pharmaceuticals, while Alere focuses on rapid diagnostics for cardiometabolic disease, infectious disease and toxicology. The transaction makes Abbott the global leader in point of care testing and further strengthens the company's diagnostics presence.

Point of care testing is a USD 7 billion segment of the USD 50 billion in vitro diagnostics market and is growing rapidly as a number of health care systems are increasing their reliance on these technologies to inform patient care decisions with easy-to-use tests that provide speed and accuracy, particularly in the outpatient setting. With the addition of Alere, Abbott has approximately USD 7 billion in diagnostics sales worldwide, including about USD 2.5 billion in point of care testing.

“Creating the world's leading point of care business will help Abbott meet the growing demand for fast, accurate and actionable information,” said Brian Blaser, executive vice president, Diagnostics Products, Abbott. “Combined with Abbott's existing point of care business and its leading hand-held platform, i-STAT, we now have the broadest point of care testing portfolio to help improve care for patients in more parts of the world.”