Medical devices continue to be a strong growth driver for Abbott, as the company battles its ongoing sales slump in diagnostics, which accelerated in the third quarter.
Third-quarter revenue for its global medical devices business climbed 14.8% year over year on a reported basis and 12.5% on an organic basis. An organic basis for Abbott essentially means stripping out foreign exchange and COVID-19 testing-related sales.
That’s partly due to roller coaster foreign exchange rates from market fluctuations and declining COVID test use as countries end mandates and reduce voluntary testing. In the most recent quarter, COVID testing-related sales totaled $69 million, down significantly from $265 million in the same quarter last year.
Abbott’s sales from its global diagnostics business fell 6.6% year over year on a reported basis in the third quarter. When excluding COVID testing-related sales, diagnostics sales were up 0.4%, according to the company’s financial report published Wednesday morning.
Global Core Laboratory Diagnostics sales were a bright spot, increasing 3.8% on a reported basis. However, growth in the third quarter “was impacted by challenging market conditions in China, including the impact of volume-based procurement programs,” Abbott noted in its earnings report.
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Abbott said quarterly sales in its medical devices segment were led by double-digit growth in diabetes care, electrophysiology, rhythm management, heart failure and structural heart. In diabetes care, sales of continuous glucose monitors—including FreeStyle Libre systems—rose 20.5% on a reported basis to $2 billion in the most recent quarter.
Abbott’s total third-quarter sales, which include its pharmaceuticals and nutrition businesses, rose 6.9% on a reported basis, 5.5% on an organic basis and 7.5% excluding COVID testing.
“Our third-quarter results demonstrate our ability to deliver consistent, high-quality performance,” said Robert B. Ford, chairman and CEO of Abbott, in a statement.
“Our differentiated product pipeline continues to power our performance and positions Abbott to deliver durable long-term value to our shareholders.”
Shares in the company fell more than 3% in premarket trading Wednesday.
