Silicon Valley Historical Association

In true Silicon Valley fashion, Abbott was established to fill a need—and in its founder’s home. This start-up, however, made its debut not in this century or even in the last. Abbott —then known as the Abbott Alkaloidal Company—began innovating new health care technologies in 1888, and has been serving that mission ever since. Its continuous growth and its focus on breakthrough technology has made Abbott a major player among the valley’s health care innovators.

The man behind the company was Wallace Calvin Abbott , the son of a Vermont farmer who started his career as a doctor outside Chicago. Unhappy with the then-current ways to fight disease, Dr. Abbott began to manufacture granules of active, or alkaloidal, substances to better
treat his patients. By doing so he became one of the early leaders of the modern scientific practice of pharmacy.

Since those pioneering days, Abbott has championed scientific investigation to benefit people everywhere and has devoted itself to discovering new medicines, new technologies, and new ways to manage health. The company’s products now include a broad range of pharmaceuticals, diagnostics, medical devices, and nutritional products. Abbott ’s pharmaceuticals include the HIV treatment Kaletra®; HUMIRA®, a monoclonal antibody therapy for multiple autoimmune diseases; and the cholesterol-fighting drugs TriCor® and Niaspan®. Its nutritional products include the infant formula Similac® and the food supplement for people with diabetes, Glucerna®. Abbott’s key medical products include the ARCHITECT®, PRISM®, and m2000™ diagnostic instrument systems; the FreeStyle® family of glucose monitoring products; and the XIENCE™ V Everolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System, which was designed in the Valley, is currently available in Europe and Asia Pacific, and is an investigational device in the United States and Japan.

Abbott has a long history of scientific advances that have improved the health of people around the world. In the 1920s and 1930s, Abbott made important breakthroughs in the collection and storage of blood and blood products and intravenous solutions, making transfusions safer and more reliable for patients. In later years, the company introduced high-volume hematology instruments used in hospital labs and blood banks. Abbott ’s PRISM system, a high-throughput analyzer, is currently used to screen the majority of the world’s blood supply.

Abbott is also a proven leader in sedation and anesthesia. Dr. Ernest Volwiler and later, Dr. Donalee Tabern, conducted pioneering work that led to the introduction of the sedatives Neonal and Nembutal.

Building on their previous work, in 1936, Drs. Volwiler and Tabern developed Pentothal, an intravenous anesthetic that enabled doctors to develop many of the more complex surgical procedures that define modern medicine today. For their efforts, Drs. Volwiler and Tabern were inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame 50 years later, in 1986.

Some of Abbott’s most significant scientific contributions are in the area of HIV/AIDS. In 1985, the company developed the first licensed test to detect HIV antibodies in the blood and today remains a leader in HIV diagnostics. Abbott researchers continue to monitor HIV-positive populations for new strains and resistance in order to refine its diagnostics.

Abbott scientists also developed two protease inhibitors for the treatment of HIV, Norvir (one of the first introduced) and Kaletra (the most prescribed). The protease inhibitor class of drugs has revolutionized HIV treatment, helping turn HIV/AIDS into a manageable disease.

Silicon Valley today is home to many biotechnology companies, but Abbott can trace its biotech roots back to the early 1900s, with the production of Abbott’s book Biologic Products and How to Use Them. Since then, Abbott has continued to be at the leading edge of biologics research and development.

This history was written in 2008 by the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association.

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