Abbott CEO White on neuromod woes: ‘ We did this to ourselves ’

Abbott‘s (NYSE:ABT) neuromod division saw less than explosive growth during its second quarter due to “self-inflicted wounds”, CEO Miles White said during a quarterly earnings call. “We did this to ourselves,” White said during the call while discussing the less-than-expected growth of the division, according to a SeekingAlpha transcript. The company’s neuromod division reported growth of 6.9% compared with the same quarter during the previous year, which was smaller than the company saw in its diabetes care, structural heart and electrophysiology divisions. While the numbers aren’t negative, they don’t compare to the nearly 50% growth the newly added division saw the previous year. CEO White said the lowered growth was caused by the company not investing more in their sales force, which he said was essential to growing the neuromodulation division. “This is a business where the business is very dependent on the involvement of the representative, the sales representative, et cetera, not only with the physician but also with the patients. And we did not expand our sales force in concert with the rate of explosive growth we experienced,” White said, according to SeekingAlpha. The company did eventually expand its sales force, White said, but ended up causing more disruption through the sudden addition of new salespeople and the need to divide territories. “So I think we have added to our comp issue here. So do I think it get...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: Business/Financial News Abbott Source Type: news