Abbott Laboratories

And thank you for standing by. Welcome to Abbott's third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. All participants will be able to listen only until the question and answer portion of this call. During the question and answer session, you will be able to ask your question by pressing the star 11 keys on your touch on phone. This call is being recorded by Abbott. With the exception of any participants questions asked during the question and answer session, the entire call including the question and answer session, is material copyrighted by Abbott. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without Abbott's Express written permission. I would now like to introduce Mr. Mike Camilla, Vice President, Investor Relations.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Robert Ford, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and Phil Boudreau, Executive Vice President, Finance, and Chief Financial Officer. Robert and Phil will provide opening remarks. Following their comments, we'll take your questions. Before we get started, some statements made today may be forward-looking for purposes of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including the expected financial results for 2024. Abbott cautions that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. Economic, competitive, governmental, technological, and other factors that may affect Abbott's operations are discussed in Item 1A, Risk Factors, to our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31st, 2023. Abbott undertakes no obligation to release publicly any revisions to forward-looking statements as a result of subsequent events or developments except as required by law. On today's conference call, as in the past, non-GAAP financial measures will be used to help investors understand Abbott's ongoing business performance. These non-GAAP financial measures are reconciled with the comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings news release and regulatory filings from today. which are available on our website at abbott.com. Note that Abbott has not provided the GAAP financial measure for organic sales growth on a forward-looking basis because the company is unable to predict future changes in foreign exchange rates, which could impact reported sales growth. Unless otherwise noted, our commentary on sales growth refers to organic sales growth, which is defined in the press release issued earlier today. With that, I will now turn the call over to Robert.

Thanks, Mike. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us. Today, we reported organic sales growth of more than 8%, excluded COVID testing sales and adjusted earnings per share of $1.21. In addition to delivering another quarter of strong financial performance, we accomplished several key objectives this quarter, which included entering new strategic partnerships, launching new products, and making several key advancements in our R&D pipeline. And I'll elaborate further on these accomplishments when discussing the performance of our businesses and summarize our third quarter results in more detail before turning the call over to Phil. And I'll start with nutrition, where sales increased 3.5% in the quarter. Growth in the quarter was led by double-digit growth in the U.S., and this included growth of 12%. in U.S. pediatric nutrition, driven by market share gains in the income form of business, and growth of 11.5% in U.S. adult nutrition, led by our market-leading Ensure and Glucerna brands. As the market leader in adult nutrition, we continue to expand our portfolio to meet the growing global demand for products that offer a combination of high protein, low sugar to help people optimize their health and wellness. Moving to diagnostics, our sales in Core Laboratory Diagnostics increased 4.5% excluding COVID testing sales. Growth in Core Lab was driven by global demand for routine diagnostic testing and continued adoption of our market-leading diagnostic systems and testing platforms, including recent large account wins that will help continue to sustain our growth into 2025. In our rapid and point-of-care diagnostic businesses, we continue to expand our test menus and capitalize on the growing demand for respiratory tests that can be performed at home or in more traditional healthcare settings. In September, we announced an exciting new partnership with the Big Ten Conference to help boost the U.S. blood supply through a blood donation competition. Students, alumni, and fans can donate blood for any of the 18 member universities at blood centers located across the country. And our goal with this competition is to help rebuild the nation's blood supply, which is currently at an extremely low level, while also helping to create a new generation of blood donors. Turning to EPD, where sales increased 7% in the quarter. Growth was well balanced across the markets and therapeutic areas in which we participate. Our performance this quarter was driven by double digit growth in several countries across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, where our broad product portfolios focused on addressing local market needs continues to enhance our unique position in these markets. From a portfolio perspective, we continue to deliver broad-based growth across our key therapeutic areas of focus, including strong growth in the quarter in the areas of gastroenterology, cardiometabolic, central nervous system, and pain management. We also achieved several milestones this quarter as it relates to advancing our portfolio of biosimilars, which we built and continue to expand through collaboration agreements. The first of these biosimilars is on track to launch in emerging markets in late 2025. And I'll wrap up with our MedTech portfolio, where sales grew more than 13%. In diabetes care, sales of continuous glucose monitors exceeded $1.6 billion in the quarter and grew 21%. In August, we announced that we had entered into a unique global partnership with Medtronic to connect Abbott's world-leading Freestyle Libre CGM sensor with their automated insulin delivery systems. Abbott now has partnerships with five of the largest companies that offer automated insulin dosing pumps, allowing more people around the world to benefit from the connectivity with the Libre technology. In September, we announced the US launch of Lingo, Our new glucose monitoring sensor, available for purchase without a prescription, the LingoWearable sensor and app track real-time glucose data and provide personal insights and coaching based on your body's reaction to nutrition, exercise, and other lifestyle choices to help create healthier habits and improve overall well-being. In electrophysiology, growth of 14%. was driven by double-digit growth in both the US and international markets, and similar to previous quarters, the growth was broad-based across the portfolio, including double-digit growth in catheters and cardiac mapping-related products. We also achieved several important milestones as it relates to our electrophysiology new product pipeline, and this includes completing enrollment ahead of schedule in our Volt AF US IDE trial, And after we complete the required patient follow-up phase, we expect a file for FDA approval next year. Earlier this month, we announced that we began enrolling patients in our Focal Flex clinical trial. This is designed to assess our new TactiFlex Duo catheter, which offers physicians the option of using PFA and radiofrequency energy to treat atrial fibrillation. And finally, we received FDA approval and launched our new advisor HD GridX mapping catheter, which further enhances the cardiac mapping process when using PFA or RF ablation catheters to treat AFIT. In structural heart, growth of more than 16% was driven by growth across our market-leading comprehensive portfolio of surgical valves, structural interventions, and transcatheter repair and replacement products. This quarter, we continue to capture market share in Tavern and saw accelerating adoption of Amulet and Triclip, which we launched in the US earlier this year. And earlier this month, CMS began the process of evaluating Triclip for a national coverage determination, which if approved, would help expand the addressable market through broader access in the US for this first of its kind technology. In rhythm management, growth of 7% was led by Avere, our highly innovative leadless pacemaker, and Assert, our newest implantable cardiac monitor, which launched in the US last year. In heart failure, growth of 14% was driven by our market-leading portfolio of heart assist devices, which offer treatment for chronic and temporary conditions. In vascular growth of 5%, was led by double-digit growth in vessel closure and coronary imaging, along with a spree or below-the-knee resorbable stent that launched in the U.S. in the second quarter. And lastly, in neuromodulation, sales grew 5%, driven by strong demand in international markets for our Eterna rechargeable spinal cord stimulation device. So in summary, we delivered another quarter of strong top-line growth with sales growth with sales growing more than 8%. We continue to make good progress expanding our gross margin profile and remain on track to improve our profile by 75 basis points in a full year basis compared to last year. And as you saw, we achieved several important new product pipeline milestones this quarter, and we're well positioned for a strong finish to the year and have great momentum heading into 2025. And I'll turn over the call to Phil.