[1]: 39–40  The company is also committed to product development for other treatments of cancer, neurologic diseases, eye care, and cystic fibrosis.

[6] On October 19, 2011, Abbott Laboratories announced its plan to separate into two publicly traded companies, spinning off its research-based pharmaceutical manufacturer division.

[9][10] In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Israeli government announced that it would force AbbVie to license its patents for Kaletra, the brand name of lopinavir/ritonavir, a fixed dose combination medication for the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS which was also thought to have some applicability to fighting COVID-19.

On the same day, AbbVie and Calico entered into a R&D collaboration intended to discover, develop and bring to market new therapies for patients with diseases of aging including neurodegeneration and cancer.

[20] A day later, the company announced an expansion of a two and a half-year-old cystic fibrosis deal with Galapagos NV, potentially doubling milestone payments to $600 million.

[30] In March 2022, AbbVie acquired Syndesi Therapeutics for up to $1 billion and its portfolio of novel modulators of the synaptic vesicle protein 2A and lead compound SDI-118.

[34][35] In December 2023, AbbVie announced that it will acquire neuroscience drugmaker Cerevel Therapeutics for $8.7 billion, in an attempt to expand its drug pipeline.

[38] In February 2024, AbbVie Inc. and Tentarix Biotherapeutics announced the beginning of a long-term collaboration in the discovery and development of opportunistic, multi-specific biological candidates in oncology and immunology.

Synlogic is a synthetic biology company built on research from the labs of James Collins and Tim Lu at MIT.

[44] In April 2016, the company partnered with the University of Chicago to investigate a number of areas of oncology: breast, lung, prostate, colorectal and hematological cancers.

ARGX-115 is a first-in-class immunotherapy targeting GARP (glycoprotein A repetitions predominant), a membrane protein believed to enhance the immunosuppressive effects of T cells.

[52][53] Forest Laboratories, a subsidiary of AbbVie, has been accused of using unlawful deals to prevent generic versions of its Alzheimer's disease drug, Namenda, from entering the market.

[54][55] In 2018, AbbVie agreed to pay $25 million to resolve allegations that it made use of kickback schemes to promote its cholesterol drug Tricor.

[56] In 2020, AbbVie agreed to pay $24M to resolve allegations that it made use of kickback schemes to promote its rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira using "nurse ambassadors".

[60] In July 2022 the company agreed to pay up to $2.37 billion to settle U.S. lawsuits against its Allergan unit over the marketing of opioid painkillers.

The company's stock fell 6 percent following an earnings report that included a $2.2 billion charge related to the opioid deal.