Repeat-use healthcare products
Abbott Laboratories sells healthcare products that patients and care providers buy over and over: medical devices, diagnostic tests, nutrition products such as Similac and Ensure, and branded medicines. It earns money when hospitals, laboratories, government agencies, pharmacies, retailers, and consumers keep reordering. A large part of its device business is continuous glucose monitoring, where people with diabetes wear small sensors they replace regularly, so each patient becomes a stream of repeat purchases rather than a single sale. Abbott runs four segments: Medical Devices, Diagnostic Products, Nutritional Products, and Established Pharmaceutical Products, the last selling branded generics like Creon and Synthroid in emerging markets outside the United States.