Abbott Laboratories Hit by $4 Million Diagnostics Theft in USA

Abbott Laboratories is the latest drugmaker to fall prey to cargo thieves in the USA, losing a full truckload of diabetes testing equipment last weekend from a carrier facility lot in Louisville, Kentucky. The stolen shipment consisted of 37 pallets of diabetes testing equipment and is valued at approximately $4m, a little below the average US pharmaceutical cargo theft value estimated by security firm Freightwatch International. Products taken in the haul include lancets, control solutions and Freestyle and Precision brand glucose test strips, according to the Pharmaceutical Cargo Security Consortium (PCSC). The product stolen in the highest quantities was FreeStyle Lite strips, with more than 30,000 50-count cartons missing.