Kalorama: Abbott’s Alere acquisition ups its status in point-of-care testing

NEW YORK — On Monday, Abbott Laboratories announced a $5.8 billion acquisition of point-of-care diagnostics company Alere. According to Kalorama Information’s analysis, the acquisition will make Abbott one of the largest players in the point-of-care testing area. 

 

“Abbott is marking out point-of-care as an area that it can compete and win in,” Kalorama Information publisher Bruce Carlson said. “This should not be surprising as POC in some areas like infectious disease is growing at one and half times the global IVD (in vitro diagnostics) market.”

 

Alere focuses on tests for cardiology, oncology, infectious disease and women’s health, among others, and is the largest pregnancy test maker, Kalorama said. These will be added to Abbott’s portfolio, which includes the i-STAT instrument.