Nutritional, diagnostics sales give Abbott a boost

ABBOTT PARK, Ill. Abbott on Wednesday posted a U.S. sales increase of 6.4% to $3.8 billion, including a 1.6% lift in domestic diagnostics sales and a 1.7% increase in U.S. nutritional sales.

In a conference call with analysts Wednesday morning, Abbott announced it would be relaunching its Ensure adult nutritional brand with the proprietary ingredient Revigor. Revigor (hydroxymethyl butyrate) is one of the key ingredients in the company’s Juven line, a nutrition line for recovering cancer patients. Along with arginine and glutamine, Juven helps slow protein breakdown and facilitate synthesis of collagen and other proteins involved in tissue repair. Ensure with Revigor will be designed “to help consumers maintain and rebuild lean body mass lost due to aging, illness, injury or surgery.”

Company officials projected nutritional growth in the upper single-digits going forward.

With regard to its diagnostics division, Abbott Diabetes Care last month announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration for its new FreeStyle blood glucose test strips. The new FreeStyle test strips minimize interference during blood glucose testing and are designed to offer a better testing experience, the company stated. Abbott is preparing to launch those new strips nationwide in the coming weeks.