Following the news that Abbott’s Q1 worldwide sales increased 2.5% despite the negative business impact of COVID-19;

Dara Lo, Medical Device Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers her view:

“Abbott’s diverse product portfolio provides some resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic compared with other companies. Even though Abbott’s Core Laboratory Diagnostics showed a decline of 6.8% in sales, which is significant as this sector holds 60% of the total diagnostics revenue for the company, Abbott’s strong presence in diabetes and glucose monitoring products is expected to have a positive impact and protect the company from further revenue slide.

“In Abbott’s Diabetes Care, growth was led by its glucose monitoring device FreeStyle Libre, which saw an increase of 59.3%. During Q1 2020, Abbott obtained expanded reimbursement coverage for FreeStyle Libre in Japan to include people with Type 2 diabetes that inject insulin multiple times per day to manage their condition. Recently, Abbott received Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval on its next generation CGM to expand its system to adults and children ages 4 and older with diabetes. GlobalData expects this expanded patient base will aid in the growth of one of Abbott’s fastest-growing product sectors.

“Furthermore, GlobalData expects positive growth in revenue in Abbott’s Medical Devices sector, which is expected to continue due to Abbott’s Diabetes Care Devices.”