NEW YORK, June 21 /PRNewswire/ -- At a meeting held today for investors and financial analysts, Miles D. White, chairman and chief executive officer of Abbott Laboratories, highlighted the company's vision and the strategic initiatives the company has undertaken to build a world-class global pharmaceutical business and research and development (R&D) organization.

"Global pharmaceuticals have been and will continue to be among our most important strategic priorities," Mr. White said. "The actions we've taken in the past two years -- financially, scientifically and operationally -- have positioned this business for sustained double-digit growth."

Mr. White told analysts that the acquisition of BASF's pharmaceutical business, which included the global operations of Knoll, greatly enhanced Abbott's pharmaceutical pipeline, which now contains approximately 50 drugs in the clinic. "The combined pipeline of Abbott and Knoll is both deeper and more evenly distributed across all phases of discovery and development, thereby ensuring a more steady stream of promising compounds over Abbott's five-year long range plan and beyond. We've increased our pharmaceutical R&D investment to $1 billion to ensure that our pipeline remains full."

"We are committed to creating a top-tier global pharmaceutical business capable of continually discovering, developing and marketing breakthrough drugs to improve patient health," added Jeffery M. Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., executive vice president, pharmaceuticals and chief scientific officer. "We are leveraging our outstanding and innovative science to create breakthrough drugs that address patients' unmet medical needs in the areas of oncology, diabetes/metabolism, immunoscience, neuroscience, and infectious disease, including HIV."

Mr. White said that Abbott's pharmaceutical researchers are working with the most advanced techniques available to create competitive advantages for Abbott. "Abbott scientists use methods that include proprietary, high-impact techniques developed at Abbott including SAR by NMR(TM), ARCS(TM) ultra-high- throughput screening, and important innovations in affinity screening and monoclonal antibody technology."

Currently, atrasentan (ABT-627) is in Phase III clinical trials for prostate cancer. D2E7, a compound being studied for rheumatoid arthritis, is the first fully human monoclonal antibody to enter Phase III development and is scheduled to be submitted for FDA approval in the second quarter of next year.

In 2001, the company is launching three drugs outside the United States: Kaletra(R) (lopinavir/ritonavir), an advanced-generation protease inhibitor for patients living with HIV; UPRIMA(R) (apomorphine hydrochloride) for the treatment of erectile dysfunction; and Reductil(R) (sibutramine) for the management of obesity, also known as Meridia(R) in the United States.

"The acquisition of BASF's pharmaceutical business, and its people, projects, sites and funding; the initiation of the Millennium alliance; and the unification of global pharmaceutical R&D not only take Abbott science to a new level, but position it well for years to come," Dr. Leiden said. "All of these assets, combined with our commitment to, and delivery of increased investment, have created the foundation for the future of Abbott global pharmaceutical research and development."

During the meeting, Abbott also confirmed its comfort with First Call analyst consensus estimates for 2001 of $1.88, and $0.45 for the second quarter of 2001, excluding one-time charges.

Abbott Laboratories is a global, diversified health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals, nutritionals and medical products, including devices and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 70,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries. In 2000, the company's annual sales and net earnings were $13.7 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, with diluted earnings per share of $1.78.

Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at www.abbott.com . The meeting was webcast from 7:30 a.m. to 2:45 p.m., Central time, through Abbott's Investor Relations Web site at www.abbottinvestor.com . An archived edition of the event will be available on Friday, June 22, at 10 a.m., Central time.

Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 -- A Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

Some statements in this news release may be forward-looking statements for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Abbott cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological and other factors that may affect Abbott's operations are discussed in Exhibit 99.1 of our 2000 Form 10-K and in our periodic reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, and are incorporated by reference. Abbott undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward- looking statements as the result of subsequent events or developments.

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SOURCE Abbott Laboratories, Inc.

/NOTE TO EDITOR: In paragraph five, SAR by NMR(TM), which stands for Structural Activity Relationships by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, is a lead- generation and lead-optimization technology developed and patented by Abbott. ARCS(TM), also known as Arrayed Compound Screening, is an ultra-high- throughout screening technology developed and patented by Abbott./

CONTACT: Media, Ann Fahey-Widman, 847-938-6388, Christy Beckmann, 847-938-9725, or Financial, John Thomas, 847-938-2655, all of Abbott Laboratories/