Cross posted from Nature Medicine’s Spoonful of Medicine blog on behalf of Madhumita Venkataramanan.

Abbott Laboratories announced plans yesterday to split into two companies. The separation is not a bitter one, however; it’s simply a smart way to give the Chicago–based company — the eighth-largest drugmaker in the world, with global sales of around $40 billion in 2010 — a valuation bump in the eyes of investors, analysts say.

The two new companies will have distinct product profiles. The first, as yet unnamed, will be a research-based pharmaceuticals company with Abbott’s trademark brand-name medicines, including the rheumatoid arthritis drug Humira (adalimumab), prostate cancer drug Lupron (leuprolide) and Synagis (palivizumab), a monoclonal antibody targeted at the respiratory syncitial virus. The second company, which will keep the Abbott moniker, will be a diversified medical products business including lab diagnostics, generic drugs, nutrition products and medical devices.

The problem with the status quo, according to Abbott spokesperson Adelle Infante, is that Humira has overshadowed all the company’s other offerings. “I believe this one product alone represents about 20% of the company’s profits,” Infante told Nature Medicine. Consequently, for example, the medical products arm does not get as much attention from healthcare investors, she explains.

Read the rest of this post over on Spoonful of Medicine.