Abbott Labs sees scant deal-making on the horizon
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Abbott Laboratories (ABT.N) said on Monday the company expects little to no activity on the merger and acquisition front this year, similar to 2007.
"We're very comfortable with the portfolio," Abbott Chief Financial Officer Tom Freyman told investors at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco. After a quiet 2007, Freyman noted, "we still feel that way."
Abbott purchased Kos Pharmaceuticals Inc and Guidant Corp's vascular business in 2006.
Freyman declined to update the company's financial forecasts, but added that he expects strong growth for its rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira.
In medical devices, Abbott is expecting the reimbursement rate for its new Xience heart stent in France will be published in February, said John Capek, Abbott's executive vice president of medical devices.
The company until now has not been selling the new drug-coated heart stent in France, which is the second-largest market in Europe for stents.
Abbott acquired Xience from Guidant when Boston Scientific Corp (BSX.N), which bought Guidant in 2006, divested the vascular business. As part of the deal, Boston Scientific agreed to market Xience alongside its top-selling Taxus stent, but would call the new product Promus and return 40 percent of gross profits from Promus to Abbott.
Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ.N) Cypher and Boston Scientific's Taxus are the only two U.S.-approved drug-coated stents. Abbott and Medtronic Inc (MDT.N), with its Endeavor stent, are seeking to join the field.
Stents are small wire-mesh tubes that doctors insert to prop open arteries after clearing them of blockages. Drug coating was added to newer versions starting in 2003 to keep the vessels from reclogging.
Abbott launched Xience in Europe and Asia in October 2006. Abbott has applied for U.S. approval on Xience and a Food and Drug Administration advisory panel voted to recommend approval of the device on Nov. 29. The FDA's decision is pending.
The company will have Xience manufacturing capacity in 2008 to supply up to 50 percent market share, Capek told investors.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein, with additional reporting by Susan Kelly in Chicago; Editing by Gary Hill)
((lisa.baertlein@reuters.com; +1 213 955 6742; Reuters Messaging: lisa.baertlein.reuters.com@reuters.net)) Keywords: ABBOTTLABS/
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