View information about Abbott Laboratories. You can view the history of Abbott Laboratories and their impact on branding.

Abbott Laboratories

Abbott Laboratories

The story of Abbott Labs:

It's one of the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world, founded in Chicago and headquartered just north of that Midwest city today.

Abbott Labs carries the name of its founder, William Calvin Abbott…

William Calvin Abbott

…who was a Chicago doctor who set out to formulate medicine. Back then it was called the Abbott Alkaloidal Company and it based in the basement of this Ravenswood, Illinois house.

William Calvin Abbott's house he worked out of

Abbott's big idea was to use the active part of a medicinal plant – usually an alkaloid like morphine, codeine, quinine and strychnine – and turn it into granules, leading to effective dosages.

For more than a century, the company has expanded to also sell medical devices and research-based medicine…

Abbott Laboratories brands

…along with nutritional products…

Abbott Laboratories nutritional products

…and has also developed an in-vitro diagnostics business.

Abbott Labs has affiliates in Montreal, Canada and in Pakistan and in late April, 2016 Abbott announced the twenty-five-billion-dollar purchase of St. Paul Minnesota-based St. Jude Medical.

St. Jude Medical

With 74,000 employees and operations in more than 150 countries, Abbott Laboratories has total assets of 247 billion dollars, based on 2015 figures. It's current headquarters…

Abbott Laboratories headquarters

…is in Lake Bluff, Illinois, north of Chicago.