Impact of the GE agreement – John Coulter’s letter to UK customers

Dear Customer:

On January 18 2007, Abbott Laboratories announced that it is to sell its core laboratory diagnostics business to General Electric Company. This includes our division, Abbott Diagnostics and also the Abbott Point of Care business. Abbott and GE are committed to ensuring a seamless transition over the coming weeks and months, without disruption or impact to our customers.

Abbott and GE have made this agreement because of our mutual recognition that the nature and direction of modern laboratory diagnostics is changing, and that this business will see enhanced success in the long term as a part of GE. Abbott helped create the modern diagnostics industry with a tradition of developing first-of-a-kind assays and portable bench-top instrument systems. Over the years, innovation in the diagnostics market has expanded from not only a focus on the most advanced assays but also to an emphasis on large systems automation and information management. Abbott has moved with this shift and GE is optimally positioned to take this business to the next level.

GE Healthcare’s strategy is to combine early diagnosis with information technology to enable a new "early health" model of care focused on earlier diagnosis, pre-symptomatic disease detection and disease prevention. Abbott's in vitro diagnostics business will complement GE's existing positions in in vivo X-ray, magnetic resonance, ultrasound and other imaging market segments, as well as its molecular imaging, information technology and patient monitoring capabilities. Together, the combined Abbott Diagnostics, Abbott Point of Care and GE businesses will allow our customers to access better tools and an improved array of diagnostic options, enhancing their decision-making capabilities.

We expect this transaction to be completed in the first half of this year. Most importantly, we want to assure you that under new ownership, you can continue to count on the people, products, service and support that you’ve come to expect from our team.

We will keep you informed of our progress.

Sincerely,

John Coulter
General manager, UK & Ireland