ABBOTT PARK, Ill., Oct. 3 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Abbott (NYSE: ABT) today announced that it has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World), as well as the new DJSI North America and DJSI United States Indices. The addition of Abbott to the DJSI World ranks the company among the top 10 percent of the world's leading 2,500 companies, based on an assessment of the company's economic, social and environmental performance. The DJSI North America and DJSI United States indices include the top 20 percent of the 600 largest North American companies by industry, following the same performance criteria as the DJSI World.

"Being named to the DJSI is a direct result of the continued efforts of Abbott employees to focus on exceptional performance and earning the trust of those we serve," said Reeta Roy, divisional vice president, Global Citizenship and Policy, Abbott. "As a company that has served people's health needs for more than a century, corporate citizenship is a fundamental driver of Abbott's business success."

Abbott is listed in the medical products group, and is the only health care company to be added to the DJSI in 2005. Abbott also was singled out as "best in class" in the medical products group for its performance in numerous areas, including corporate citizenship/philanthropy, environmental reporting, stakeholder engagement, marketing practices, labor practices, investor relations, and risk and crisis management.

In August 2005, Abbott released its annual global citizenship report, Living Our Values. The report details the company's progress across a number of key areas, including efforts to integrate citizenship throughout the company's operations, and how the company exercises its resources, expertise and influence to address issues important to the people it serves. Key highlights include:

     -- Abbott's efforts to help patients access affordable health care, one
        of the key issues facing the health care industry.  Through various
        patient assistance programs, Abbott provided more than 200,000
        patients with free and discounted medicine in the United States;
     -- The creation of a new Global Product Protection Group to help protect
        patients from the risks of counterfeit medicine;
     -- An increase in Abbott's total social investment, including funding and
        in-kind support, to more than $300 million, compared to $240 million
        the previous year;
     -- The expansion of Abbott's global ethics and compliance program, and
        efforts to ensure suppliers understand Abbott standards for business
        ethics; and
     -- Five-year performance goals were established for a number of key
        environmental, health and safety areas.

Abbott's full Living Our Values global citizenship report is available online at http://www.abbott.com/citizenship .

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs more than 60,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott's news releases and other information are available on the company's Web site at http://www.abbott.com .

SOURCE  Abbott
    -0-                             10/03/2005
    /CONTACT:  Media, Julie Ferguson, +1-847-936-6116, or Financial Community,
Tina Ventura, +1-847-935-9390, both of Abbott/
    /Company News On-Call:  http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/110328.html/
    /Web site:  http://www.abbott.com
                http://www.abbott.com/citizenship /
    (ABT)

CO:  Abbott; Dow Jones Sustainability World Index
ST:  Illinois
IN:  MTC HEA SPM ENV
SU:  CSR

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