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Separation of Abbott's Proprietary Pharmaceuticals Business
9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2012
Separation of Abbott's Proprietary Pharmaceuticals Business  
Separation of Abbott's Proprietary Pharmaceuticals Business

Note 12 — Separation of Abbott’s Proprietary Pharmaceuticals Business

 

In October 2011, Abbott announced a plan to separate into two publicly traded companies, one in diversified medical products and the other in research-based pharmaceuticals.  To accomplish the separation, Abbott plans to create a new company for its research-based pharmaceuticals business which will include Abbott’s Proprietary Pharmaceutical Products segment.  The transaction is expected to take the form of a tax-free distribution to Abbott shareholders of the stock of the newly created research-based pharmaceutical company.  Abbott expects to be ready to separate the company on January 1, 2013 subject to obtaining the required approvals.  Subsequent to the separation, the historical results of the research-based pharmaceuticals business will be presented as discontinued operations.  Annual net sales for the new research-based pharmaceuticals business were approximately $17.4 billion in 2011.