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Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Abbott drug tops sales as Lipitor, Plavix era ends, (NYSE: ABT)

Abbott Laboratories' $9-billion arthritis drug Humira is set to take the crown as the world's top-selling medicine this year, highlighting the dominance of costly biotechnology products as revenues from old-style pills decline.Neither of last year's biggest sellers - Pfizer's cholesterol fighter Lipitor or blood thinner Plavix from Sanofi and Bristol-Myers Squibb - will even make it into the top 10 in 2012, according to consensus forecasts compiled by Thomson Reuters Pharma.The dramatic shift in the sales landscape, triggered by a record wave of patent expiries, will be centre-stage during the forthcoming quarterly results season as investors weigh up how leading pharmaceutical companies are adapting."They've all seen this coming but their ability to manoeuvre is limited," said Simon Friend, global pharmaceutical leader at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Abbott Laboratories (Abbott) is engaged in the discovery, development, manufacture, and sale of a range of health care products. Shares of ABT traded higher by 1.01% or $0.6/share to $60.23. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $46.29 and as high as $62.57. On average, 7468420 shares of ABT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 683287.



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