ABBOTT PREDICTS RISING DEVICE DEMAND IN 2007

Abbott Laboratories is predicting increasing profit growth in 2007 due to rising demands for new devices and drugs, along with growing sales of existing products. Abbott CEO Miles White recently told Reuters that "New products are coming on line and other products will be hitting their stride" by 2007, making increased profits "plausible."

One of the most promising products in the pipeline of experimental medical devices is a drug-coated stent that would compete with products already sold by Boston Scientific and Johnson & Johnson to prop open diseased coronary arteries. Analysts say it could be approved by late 2007.