 "Abbott's headquarters at Abbott Park in Illinois, USA")
Abbott has acquires Alere, a global leader in point of care diagnostics with annual sales of $2.5 billion, for about $ 5.8 billion. Once the transaction is completed, Abbott is expected to become the leading diagnostics provider of point of care testing. Abbott's total diagnostics sales will exceed $7 billion after the close.
Abbott will be able to provide new, flexible, cost-effective, high-quality products to help health systems meet growing demand in both in-patient and out-patient settings. Alere's complementary portfolio of products will provide Abbott access to new channels and geographies, including entry into fast-growing outlets, such as doctors' offices, clinics, pharmacies and at-home testing.
“The combination of Alere and Abbott will create the world's premier point of care testing business and significantly strengthen and grow Abbott's diagnostics presence. We want to offer our customers the best and broadest diagnostics solutions. Alere helps us do that,” commented Miles White, chairman and chief executive officer, Abbott.
Upon completion of the transaction, the combined business will offer the broadest point of care menu of infectious disease, molecular, cardiometabolic and toxicology testing, expanding Abbott's platforms to include benchtop and rapid strip tests. Abbott will be able to better serve an expansive customer base around the world while also accelerating innovation in point of care diagnostics. More than half of Alere's $2.5 billion in sales are in the US. Alere also has a growing presence in key international markets, where Abbott's capabilities and infrastructure will drive accelerated growth of Alere's portfolio.
"Today's announcement marks an exciting and transformative milestone for Alere and one that provides an immediate benefit for our stockholders. Our leading platforms and global presence in point-of-care diagnostics, combined with Abbott's broad portfolio of market-leading products, will accelerate our shared goal of improving patient care," said Namal Nawana, president and chief executive officer, Alere.
Point of care testing helps improve outcomes and increase the speed of care by bringing the test results to the physician and patient's side in a matter of minutes. The demand for point of care testing is accelerating as health care providers and consumers look for better ways to get fast, accurate and actionable information to guide decision-making. In fact, point of care testing is a $5.5 billion segment and one of the fastest growing in vitro diagnostics segments, in part because many health care systems are increasing their reliance on these technologies to inform patient care decisions because of their ease of use, speed and accuracy.
