Abbott to Bow First Lingo ‘Biowearable Sensors’ Outside US This Year: CEO

Teasing a forthcoming category of “consumer biowearable sensors” called Lingo (see 2201060040) during a CES 2022 keynote, Abbott Labs decided “to put a stake in the ground here and start talking about what we've always believed to be another opportunity, a sizable opportunity,” said CEO Robert Ford on a Q4 earnings call Wednesday. The Lingo business model “is a little bit different” than that of the Libre diabetic-monitoring product from which it was fashioned, and “probably a much larger” total addressable market “in terms of people,” said Ford. “We're really, really in the early inning stages here, but I think the numbers could be pretty significant and pretty large.” Abbott expects to launch its first Lingo products outside the U.S. toward the second half of 2022, said Ford. In the U.S., “we'll obviously be having the conversations” with the Food and Drug Administration “in terms of how that regulatory path is going to shape up,” but it’s “probably a little bit too early right now to talk about that,” he said. “We're very excited” about Lingo “because we've seen this opportunity many, many years back and made the moves” to support its development, he said.