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ABBOTT LABORATORIES' VALUE CONTINUES TO DROP

September 27, 2005

The financial value of Abbott Laboratories is continuing to drop, according to a report by Morgan Stanley. The firm says that Abbott's recent loss in a pharmaceutical patent dispute was the reason for downgrading the company's value.

Morgan Stanley noted that a recent court ruling, establishing that healthcare company Baxter International did not infringe Abbott's patent for a generic anesthetic, does not bode well for Abbott's future value. "The prospect for this event was one of the primary reasons we downgraded Abbott from overweight to equal-weight back in March," said Morgan Stanley.

"Overall, the ruling in favor of Baxter should add about a percentage point of earnings-per-share growth to Baxter over the next four years and further supports our thesis that Baxter is in the midst of a multiyear turnaround.

Abbott plans to appeal the court decision, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission last week.