Abbott Laboratories Inc. announced that it would eliminate about 1,000 jobs over the next four years as part of a plan to streamline operations and cut costs in its medical diagnostics business.

The Chicago company has 68,000 employees and also makes prescription drugs. A spokesperson for Abbott said that its diagnostics business has been performing very strongly with sales growth of 16 percent in the first half of 2008.

The streamlining plan includes the closing of a clinical chemistry plant in South Pasadena, California and transferring production of some diagnostic products to plants in Europe that are closer to a big part of the company's customer base.

Abbott said the streamlining plan, when completed, should provide about $150 million in annual pretax savings. In the meantime, the company plans to take pretax charges of about $370 million for the program over the next several years.

About $150 million of the charges will likely be taken in the second half of 2008, including roughly $140 million in the third quarter, Abbott said. The remaining charges will be taken through 2011, as the plan progresses.

Abbott's last significant restructuring initiative was in 2005, when the company announced manufacturing cost cuts across many of its businesses to achieve annual pretax savings of more than $200 million.

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