Abbott Laboratories

Abbott's continuous glucose monitoring system exhibits the rarest business dynamic: positive feedback loops that strengthen rather than saturate. FreeStyle Libre generated $6.8B in 2024, growing 22.7% while exceeding the company's own 15% CAGR target. Each new CGM user contributes data that improves Abbott's algorithms, making the system more accurate for everyone. Each doctor who prescribes Libre sees better patient outcomes, increasing prescription rates. Each reimbursement approval expands the addressable market, driving more users. This is biological amplification: early advantage compounds over time rather than eroding. The mechanism appears in neural pathway formation, where frequently-used connections strengthen while unused ones prune. Abbott captured the Type 1 diabetes market first, then expanded to basal insulin users, and now targets Type 2 diabetes patients not on insulin. Each segment entry was timed to market readiness, not Abbott's capacity.

The company opened manufacturing plants in Ireland in November 2024 specifically for Libre 3 production because demand exceeded supply. Most companies celebrate demand exceeding supply as validation. Abbott treats it as system failure. The biological parallel: herbivore populations that exceed food supply crash catastrophically. Sustainable populations track resource availability in real-time. Abbott's two-plant capacity expansion in 2024 demonstrates resource allocation matching demand curves rather than optimistic projections. The company expects "several announcements" in 2025 for automated insulin delivery systems, entering a market where competitors already operate. The timing reflects ecological succession principles: let early colonizers test the environment and reveal which niches are viable, then enter with superior adaptations.

Abbott's medical device segment posted $19B in 2024 revenue, up $2B from 2023, with diabetes care representing 36% of the total. The company projects 7.5-8.5% organic growth in 2025 with adjusted operating margins expanding 150 basis points to 23.5-24%. This margin expansion while growing revenue reveals the efficiency gains that network effects create. Every additional CGM user costs Abbott less to serve than the previous one because manufacturing scales, data infrastructure amortizes, and regulatory pathways are established. The company's strategy mirrors mycorrhizal network expansion: extend the root system into new territory, then extract nutrients more efficiently than standalone competitors can match.