David Roman — Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Thank you. Good morning. I appreciate your taking the question here. Maybe, Robert, you could start by just putting 2025 performance into context for us. As I listen to the walk from the prior guidance to the updated guidance, I think it's pretty clear that it comes from some factors outside the U.S. in diagnostics plus COVID diagnostic headwinds. Maybe you could help us think through the headwinds you're seeing this year, the extent to which those are transient versus more permanent changes in the growth rate, and what that looks like next year.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure, David. I guess I'll just start off with our goal is to always ensure that every one of our businesses is meeting and beating. The reality is, in the portfolio of Abbott and the complexity and the broadness that we're geographically across the different types of products, you're going to have some businesses that will fall short time to time, and others do better. We've seen that time and again. The goal here, David, is always to really take all of that complexity and just translate it into reliable and sustainable growth. That's what we've been doing this year. When you say characterize your growth this year, listen, we've got a device business that, for the first half of the year, has grown over 12%, double-digit growth in a lot of our businesses.
Our pharma business has done very well, 8% growth in the first half, building the biosimilar portfolio. Nutrition, first half, about 5%, which is in the range that we've always expected them now that we've lapped a lot of the market share kind of recovery process here. Really, the challenge that we've had is twofold here. It's really a drop-off on our COVID testing sales and some challenges in the China core lab market, together with some changes that we've seen in the U.S. foreign aid funding for HIV testing. You look at that and say, "Okay, I'm not sure these are impacts that are 100% definite in the second half of the year, but I'm not going to sit here and try and kind of forecast what COVID testing is going to do." We had expected to see a China recovery in volume.
We knew the price impact in China core lab, David, and we rolled that into our guidance. We had expected a market volume recovery to start happening and, quite frankly, starting in Q2. We haven't seen that, so we've moved that out into Q4. You put all that together, together with the funding for HIV testing, that's over $1 billion of headwind. Even with that $1 billion, we're still forecasting high single-digit growth and absorbing the impact of tariffs, which we now expect to be just under $200 million of impact. FX, as Phil kind of said in his comments, is still a headwind versus prior year on the EPS side, but much less of a headwind than what we had originally kind of anticipated back in January and, quite frankly, April too. That helps offset some of the tariff impact.
I put this all together, and it'll be nice, David, to lap these or to see these headwinds behind us next year. As you look to next year, you've got all this great launch activity across all the businesses, whether it's Volt in the U.S., TactiFlex Duo internationally, the dual-analyte sensor, the launch of the new Alinity system, the biosimilar kind of rollout. I look at all of that and I say, "Okay, you've got this headwind that we're facing here. Still, we're committing to high single-digit growth and double-digit EPS growth." As you look into 2026, those headwinds aren't going to be there. You've got all this kind of great momentum, which I'm sure we'll talk about in other parts of the business. I look at 2026. I know what the consensus are.
They look very reasonable to me in that range of high single-digits, double-digit EPS. It's in line with our historical growth. It's in line with the guidance we're giving this year, and it's in line with what our long-term sustainable growth targets are. It'll be good to see these elements here that I've just kind of highlighted that are specifically to diagnostics. I'll just take it a step further here. If you look at our—and I mentioned this in the opening comments here—our core lab business outside—and I hate doing this, but I think it gives context. If you look at the U.S., it was up 7%, 8%. The European region was up 8%. Our Latin America region was high teens. Our core lab business is doing very well. Alinity is doing very well.
We just got this issue that we're going to have to go through this year as it relates to VBP and the disruption that happened in our core lab business in China. We are still very bullish on this segment. We still believe it's a very important part of the healthcare system. Like I said, looking forward for these headwinds to be behind us, and we're well set up for next year.
David Roman — Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
That's very helpful. Maybe I just push a little bit harder on one point there. If I look at the guidance for this year, it's really kind of 8.5% when you take out some of those one-time headwinds. One thing you didn't mention was, obviously, in EP, you face a little bit of a portfolio gap this year, and that looks to fully resolve as you head into the back half of the year and into next year. Is there a scenario in which we could see some of these one-time headwinds reverse and see the growth rate accelerate into 2026 and correspondingly see that fall through to the bottom line, recognizing that it's early to talk about 2026, but just conceptually some of these headwinds fading and some of those pipeline drivers starting to kick in more significantly?
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Yeah. Listen, there's definitely a scenario where you could see that growth rate accelerate. It's a little bit early to kind of put a full stop on that, but there's definitely opportunities across the portfolio, which we'll talk about, likely that say, "Hey, you mentioned electrophysiology." That's been one part of our portfolio that has consistently kind of exceeded the expectations, both expectations, quite frankly, that you guys have had and the expectations that we've had. Yeah, there's definitely opportunity as these reverse out to see that acceleration. Maybe a little bit early to say that, but right now, in terms of where we're sitting for 2026, I feel very comfortable with that.
David Roman — Managing Director, Goldman Sachs
Excellent. Appreciate your taking the questions and bearing with me here as I have a cold today. Thank you.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Yep.
Robbie Marcus — Analyst, JPMorgan
Oh, great. Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Two for me. I'll ask them both upfront, both product questions. Diabetes and EP, both performed really well in the quarter, particularly U.S. Libre. It was good to see U.S. double-digit EP. Maybe just walk through some of the trends you're seeing in each of those product lines, especially in diabetes. There was a lot of buzz around ketone integration and that product coming from Abbott. What are you seeing in diabetes and then also EP, especially now with Volt launching outside the U.S.? Thanks.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure, Robbie. Yeah, another great quarter of Libre, almost 26% in the U.S., an acceleration internationally also. I think all three segments, we're seeing great momentum. If you look at the intensive insulin user segment, obviously, that's been a key growth driver for the market, but there's still segments there that are under-penetrated, and we're seeing nice growth in there. The new sensor you referenced, I think, is going to definitely accelerate there. The basal segment's doing very well. Big growth driver for us. Still, market leader here, our view globally is we've got about a 70% share. You know some of the markets that have kind of began reimbursing for basal, Robbie. We're starting to see more markets go down this path and start reimbursing basal, whether it's specific tenders and regions or different parts of healthcare systems.
That's good, and we see sustainability to that growth rate and our position in those international markets. The non-insulin user segment's doing very well, very nicely too. I think right now, you've seen commercial coverage here in the U.S., I'd say around about 30% is what we're seeing, and that's doubled over the last three years. I think the trends are doing very nicely there, and I can see that continuing for the foreseeable future as part of our road to $10 billion in revenue. Your question on, or at least your comment on the dual-analyte sensor, I think this is going to be, I think, a real next-level kind of, I'd say, significant change in the CGM market, specifically for the intensive users. Ketone monitoring helps prevent diabetic ketoacidosis. We have a legacy of being in that.
We were the first company to develop a blood test, a rapid blood test for that many decades ago. We know how important it is. It could be life-threatening. The ADA conference you referenced, I thought there was some interesting clinical data that showed—I think it was 30% of pediatric patients and 40% of adult participants saw, in this trial, saw increased ketone levels that put them at risk if there was an interruption on insulin delivery. There's clearly a need for this patient segment. I think you saw all the announcements that came out during the conference with all the pump integration. There's clearly a need there. It's understood. An opportunity to expand even further. We know that ketone monitoring here is going to create a path for doctors to prescribe SGLT2s for type 1s.
These are great drugs that offer a lot of cardiovascular benefits, but they come with a DKA risk. We think that's going to have a huge opportunity too. Good trends in the existing segments right now, Robbie, and I think that our position's just going to be strengthened even more as we bring out the innovation. Looking forward to that. I think on your question on EP, yeah, we saw good double-digit growth in EP this quarter, double-digit growth last quarter. Saw an acceleration in the U.S. growth rate this quarter versus last quarter. A lot of attention now shifting towards rolling out of Volt to the international markets. We like to launch our products in a more kind of limited fashion.
When you move from clinical trials to full-out launch, we like to have this little period in between here, Robbie, where we get to just put it out in a little bit more of an environment that we can just make sure that we're clearly understanding and getting all the feedback in a more direct fashion. When you go a little bit more focused, you get a great opportunity to do that. Really focusing right now on the sites that were enrolled in our trials, and the feedback's been excellent. I think that it stacks up very well versus competitors. I think the balloon design is perfect for PVI. I think it optimizes a lot of the process. If you think about where those prior balloon-based systems were used in Europe, I think this fits very nicely there. Its efficacy is great. Paroxysmal data is best in class.
As we said during the period we were talking about the development of Volt, we believed in mapping and contact and visualization of contact. I think that's what we're seeing from these early cases here, just providing really real-time feedback on tissue contact that leads to fewer applications, leads to less fluoro time, leads to less muscle contraction, which I think is really important if you think about some of the segments globally that are going to start to really advance in terms of market segments, segments that will benefit by having a procedure that could be done without general anesthesia and just with general sedation. I think Volt fits very nicely into those segments there too. So far, so good. The team's doing a great job.
They've been doing a great job over the last couple of years, and I think they're excited now to transition to this phase of the strategy now, which is now that we've gained a lot of market share with mapping, and that's now to bring in the PFA catheter that we think is very competitive.
Robbie Marcus — Analyst, JPMorgan
Appreciate it. Thanks, Robert.
Larry Biegelsen — Analyst, Wells Fargo
Good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Robert, I just wanted to ask one follow-up question or multi-part follow-up question on Libre. First, I'd love to get your reaction to the proposed competitive bidding for CGM and what that could mean for you. Second, the RFK Junior comments on wearables. Do you think that could accelerate type 2 non-insulin CMS coverage? Lastly, on the dual ketone sensor, do you think that could drive share gains for you in intensive insulin patients where your share is lower? Thank you.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure. Three-parter. On competitive bidding, Larry, listen, there was nothing unexpected in the CMS proposal document here. I do not think there are any major changes as it relates to CGM. If CMS chooses to go down the competitive bidding route, it is really going to be the DMEs that are going to be the ones doing the bidding, not the CGM manufacturers. I think this is probably going to take a couple of years to fully implement the process. I do not expect there to be an impact on Abbott, but we are going to continue to monitor. As I have said in other situations, one of the things that we have got to keep on doing here is to be the leader of scale, leader of cost. We will continue to monitor, and we will be ready. Your other question was regarding the comments from the secretary of HHS regarding wearables. Wearables are powerful.
We've known this since we've launched Libre. They're very powerful behavior modification tools, and behavior modification has really proven to really drive significant impact on one's health. I think if you can keep your glucose levels in a healthy range, it offers a lot of benefits. There's lower risk of diabetes, heart disease. It helps with weight loss. We've seen that. It improves productivity, etc. I appreciate the secretary's efforts here to promote improving the health and wellness of all Americans, and I think that's in line with our company's mission and certainly supportive of this initiative. We would hope that it would be Americans wearing CGMs that were made in the United States. We have two manufacturing sites, but anyways, we support that initiative. I think your question was regarding the continuous glucose ketone sensor. Do we think that that can accelerate our share gain? 100% yes.
Larry Biegelsen — Analyst, Wells Fargo
Clear. Very clear. Thank you.
Vijay Kumar — Senior Managing Director, Evercore ISI
Hi, Robert. Good morning, and thanks for taking my question. I had one product-related and one P&L question. On the product side, AVEIR CRM is doing really, really well. I guess, are there any metrics you could share on what percentage of your installed base has been updated or converted to AVEIR? Where are we in the conversion cycle? Is this now double-digit or teens for the foreseeable future? What do you think is the ultimate term for this kind of product?
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
I think it's fundamentally changed the growth trajectory of our CRM business, and now you're trying to ask yourself, okay, is this a one-off thing, or can we bank on this? If you look at the trajectory of our CRM business, 2023, when we launched single chamber, our growth rate was 7%. 2024, it was 7%. First half this year, it's 8%, showing 10% growth this quarter. I think that achieving this is very sustainable. I've talked about what we wanted to do here with AVEIR in the past. You've got a $4 billion global pacing market that really hasn't seen much innovation, Vijay. What we wanted to do was to really make sure that as we rolled this out, we weren't just looking for a kind of a niche kind of jump in sales, and then that's it.
The team's done a really good job here in terms of coordinating between marketing and clinical and sales. I think these teams have now really gotten full, are really aligned. I think they're really hitting their stride here to be able to look at expanding not just in the U.S., but also internationally. I think it's the work that they're doing here to be able to get physicians trained and hospitals set up. It's a little bit of a different implant procedure, so you do need to go through that. We took our time to do this and do this right, and I think we're seeing the benefits here of taking that time to do it right. I think it's really driving uptake, not just in single, but without a doubt in dual chamber. We're seeing an increase in the number of accounts from a year ago.
We've seen an increase in the amount of physicians that have been trained. That's increased by 50%. I think it was the last time I saw it. The implants per day have doubled as a result of that. I think it's going very well, and I think I expect to see this outer performance continue here in the next kind of several years. One of the things that we're also doing to kind of be able to support that, and I said that in my prepared comments, was we got to continue to innovate here if we want to be able to kind of support that growth. We'll launch a next-generation AVEIR that's got a 25% longer battery life. That's going to add another two years. We're developing this conduction system pacing product here, which we're targeting to start a pivotal trial in 2026.
I think given the excitement that we have with the product, I think we're going to see kind of good enrollment there too. On top of that, we're rolling it out internationally too. Right now, it's launched in 50 countries. Some of them have been launched for a year or two years. Some of them were just in the process of launching. I think there's a lot of good momentum here with this portfolio, not just in terms of execution out in the market, but also in terms of R&D and clinical work.
Vijay Kumar — Senior Managing Director, Evercore ISI
That's helpful. Maybe one P&L on the EPS guidance here. The top end was lowered by $0.05, and midpoint was maintained despite, I think, operating margins tweaked down, organic coming down. Where are the offsets here? Maybe some comments on what is underlying operational versus perhaps change in FX and tariff assumptions?
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
I'll let Phil take that one.
Phil Boudreau — EVP of Finance and CFO, Abbott
Yeah. Thanks, Vijay. Very quickly here, Robert touched on some of the sales drivers and kind of de-risking elements there. We also touched on kind of the FX impact going forward at current rates at least, and kind of that relationship that's not a one-for-one fall through, just kind of the mechanics of how inventory moves through the system and the like. While there's a neutral top line impact, there's still a headwind both year over year, as Robert touched on in his opening comments. That's still a headwind on the bottom line here, along with kind of tariffs kind of rolling in the second half of the year as those work their way through inventory as well. Those are the elements of de-risk and then kind of normal headwinds.
Vijay Kumar — Senior Managing Director, Evercore ISI
Sorry, could you quantify what was tariff contribution versus operational FX?
Phil Boudreau — EVP of Finance and CFO, Abbott
Yes. I think Robert mentioned tariffs are a little less than $200 million impact here, so down from previous estimates. Then the FX impact here, I think over the last several years, if you look at it on average, we face on average about a 4% EPS headwind on the bottom line. That kind of moves as currencies will and do, along with factors on inflation and interest rates and the like. We are in that same realm of impact, a little less than that historical 4%, but certainly year-on-year negative impact from FX of roughly a nickel.
Vijay Kumar — Senior Managing Director, Evercore ISI
Got it. Thank you.
Travis Steed — Managing Director, BofA Securities
Hey, thanks for taking the question. First question was on M&A. Just kind of curious how you're seeing the pipeline shake up in diagnostics and med tech, and if you could see Abbott do a more sizable transaction this year on the M&A side. It sounds like on EPS, you're comfortable with the street consensus double-digit EPS growth next year. Is that assuming tariffs at the current rates, or do you have a lot of some P&L flexibility next year as well if tariff rates move a bit from here?
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure. What was the first question again? Oh, M&A.
Travis Steed — Managing Director, BofA Securities
M&A.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Yeah. Yeah. It's a good environment for M&A. Good opportunities out there. Got a strong organic pipeline, so that allows us to be a lot more selective here. We're seeking the opportunities that will fit us strategically and going to generate an attractive return. Not looking just to acquire a business to make our top line larger here. Profitability, as I've said, the earnings, the ROIC, that all matters to us. Your question on EPS for next year, does it include FX? Listen, it includes what we know right now, Travis. As we're all going through, they can change. They can kind of move around. As I said in the call in April, our goal here is not to focus on mitigating items that would cause a year-over-year kind of impact. We didn't go out and build a bunch of inventory over the last couple of months.
We did do some of that where we thought it was important to do, but using that as the way to mitigate tariffs this year is going to cause, I think, headwinds if you just rely exclusively on that. As we have said, we have a whole team that has been working on this. There are like six different work streams that we are looking at. We have got a very strong manufacturing network around the world, around 90 manufacturing sites. We are going to build another cardiovascular manufacturing site here in the U.S. and begin that process also. We are thinking about it once tariffs get set in place. They are very difficult to walk away from. We have to think also medium term, but also long term.
Travis Steed — Managing Director, BofA Securities
Great. Thanks a lot.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Yeah.
Danielle Antalffy — Equity Research Associate, UBS
Hey, good morning, guys. Thanks so much for taking the question. Robert, I actually just have—I'll keep it to one product question, and that's within med tech, specifically Structural Heart. You guys have been launching Amulet for a while now, and we have a pretty potentially big game-changing trial readout coming for your competitor early next year, which to me feels like a rising tide floods all boats situation potentially. I'm just curious, looking at the Structural Heart consensus estimates for next year, modeling deceleration, I just have to imagine that that could actually accelerate Amulet growth. I would just love to hear your thoughts on how you're thinking about that and the potential TAM expansion that I think would be a class effect for both devices that are on the market today, and sort of how you're factoring that into the long-term outlook here for the Structural Heart business.
Thanks so much.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure. Yes, I concur with all the things you've been talking about there, as this is a very important kind of growth opportunity that we see also. A competitor has been investing in a trial that could potentially expand the market, so are we. We have our own trial here. I think it's going to be important to have the data to be able to kind of support your product. We've made that investment. We should complete enrollment in our trial this year. Like I said, if these are all great trials and positive trials, I think it's going to have a big impact here in terms of our ability to expand the market. Our job also, we're not the market leader, so we have things that we also have to address.
We've spent a good amount of R&D money, Danielle, to make sure that we can accelerate here our second-generation device. We're enrolling in that pivotal trial. I'd say what we were trying to resolve there was, or improve upon, is we've got great—we've got a superior sealing capability, and we've got this much broader range of ability to hit a lot of different types of anatomies. One of the feedbacks that we got is, "Can you make it easier for deployment and delivery?" Teams have done a really good job with that. The feedback that I have gotten, not only from my team, but also from the physicians that are enrolling in our trial for this next-generation product, has been spectacular. Very positive on those issues that we were trying to improve upon.
We think this is a very strong opportunity for us, tying in with our EP and AFib procedure. We know there's a growth in concomitant procedures here too. I think that this is an important growth driver for us. I share your view. I think that our product here is very competitive, and it's going to become very, very competitive as we launch the second generation.
Danielle Antalffy — Equity Research Associate, UBS
Thanks for that.
Josh Jennings — Managing Director, TD Cowen
Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. Wanted to just ask about your TAVR franchise. Maybe Robert, if you could help or share your expectations for market growth here. The commercial effort for Navitor, and then the addition of this pipeline, balloon expandable, and cannula platform. How does Abbott view the market, and how do you see the franchise taking share, and what will drive that? Thanks for taking the question. Just a quick nuance. If you can talk about anything that you're seeing in Europe with the Boston exit and Navitor uptake or share gains from that competitor event, that'd be great. Thanks for taking the questions.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure. Listen, we wanted to be—our vision here is to be the leading Structural Heart company, global Structural Heart company. The only way you can actually do that is to really have a full portfolio of products here. Obviously, I talked a little bit in my comments about mitral. We've made the investments in the tricuspid area and making investments in the TAVR side too. Specifically on TAVR, Navitor continues to get a lot of positive feedback from the physicians. It's a very compelling offering. It's excellent valve design, easy to implant. Got great clinical data. Our sales have doubled over the past two years. The big driver of that, I would say, over these past two years has been international, has really been the driving factor here of success, and I expect that to continue.
There's an opportunity here to accelerate that growth internationally with a competitor market exit. I know the team's all over that. With the upcoming CE mark that we have planned for Navitor to have low and intermediate risk label expansion, it could not come at a perfect time, to be quite honest with you. I expect that to continue and accelerate for us, Josh. We are building our position here in the United States. Right now, we are in about 20% of the centers in the United States. The way to expand our position here is we got to be in more centers. The way to do that is you need more clinical people, you need more feet on the street. That is what we are doing.
We will be doubling the size of our team, and I'd say putting ourselves in the realm of being more competitive in terms of access to sites by the end of this year. We'll have doubled it versus last year. There's a normal ramp-up in terms of rep productivity that we know in this space. All the people that we've been adding, I expect that now start to really have a nice impact as we go into 2026. It's definitely a competitive space, there's no doubt. I think here between the commercial investments we've made in the United States, the opportunity we have with label expansion and just market disruption in international markets, I think that is a tailwind for us too there.
Once you commit yourself to developing next-generation kind of balloon expandable TAVR, that also opens up a nice opportunity for us, even though that'll probably be more towards the end of this decade in terms of full launch. It does help as you're rolling out all these strategies that I've talked about. We feel good about the TAVR team's doing a good job. Like them to do better, but so far, so good. There's a lot of good momentum for us on this business.
Josh Jennings — Managing Director, TD Cowen
Appreciate it. Thank you.
Adam Maeder — Analyst, Piper Sandler
Hi, good morning. Thank you for taking the questions. Two quick ones for me. I'll ask them both upfront. Robert, first was hoping for an update on incentive formula litigation and the MDL process, and how you think about potential pathway to resolution from here. For the second question, wanted just to go a little bit deeper on the dual-analyte sensor, specifically around expected approval and launch timing. Is that first half 2026? Pricing strategy and how quickly you'll integrate with the different pumps. Thank you for taking the questions.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Yeah, sure. Listen, I'm not going to comment specifically on any kind of upcoming case regarding the neck litigation. I'm going to commit to what I've always said, which is this is a product that has been supported by the medical community, by the regulatory community, by the scientific community. It's been in the market for a long time. It does not represent much to our revenues. We stand behind the product. Its safety. The regulators have stood behind it and kind of issued statements about the product. We're going to stand behind it if we need to take action on the product. Like I've said in the past, it's a small part of our revenue. If we have to take action on the availability of that product, we will.
If the science is not respected, if the regulatory process is not respected, if the medical community is not respected, then it's going to be difficult to keep that product on the market. So far, I think there's been a lot of support from the physicians and from the regulators, a lot of support from a variety of different stakeholders to want to see this resolved and this product remain on the market. Ultimately, those making the decisions on how to feed the most vulnerable of the American citizens here should be physicians and neonatologists and not lawyers and courtrooms. Sorry, what was your second question?
Adam Maeder — Analyst, Piper Sandler
Sure. The second question was just a couple of follow-ups on the dual-analyte sensor. Wanted to just better understand expected launch timing in the United States, if you're giving any color around pricing strategy and just how quickly you'll integrate with the different pump players. Thank you.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Okay. Three questions there. On timing, I'm not going to talk about timing of that. I'm not going to talk about when we've submitted, how we've submitted. All I'll say is that this is a first time that you'll have a sensor that will measure continuously two different analytes. We've done a lot of clinical work, approximately five different trials to be able to support its submission. We've already completed those trials. I'm not going to give timelines as to when the product's out. Neither am I going to give any details on pricing and how we will think about pricing. As it relates to integration, one of the reasons we wanted to line up, have the conversations with the different insulin delivery pump companies is to make sure that when we do have it approved, that it will be available as quick as possible for the population.
Phil Boudreau — EVP of Finance and CFO, Abbott
As you saw during the ADA, there were some announcements over there, and I think that's a little bit of the strategy behind that.
Adam Maeder — Analyst, Piper Sandler
Thank you.
Matt Miksic — Analyst, Barclays
Hey, thanks so much for taking the questions. We've covered a lot of the products and some of the key elements of the quarter and the guide. Maybe just a couple of quick follow-ups. One on M&A. I know you remain an important part of your strategy. Love it if you could share any color as to kind of where you see the next most likely kind of investments or where you think there are kind of gaps in the portfolio you'd like to fill, whether it's tricuspid or in diagnostics or across the board. That'd be super helpful. Thanks.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Yeah. I get that people always like to triangulate. I'm not going to tell you, I'm not going to telegraph where we're going, but I've been pretty clear. It's diagnostics, it is devices. Those are the areas that are of interest to us. Like I said, there's a lot of opportunity in both those areas. We'll just continue to apply the framework that we've always applied to when we do M&A, which is a belief that can we make these assets better? Can we bring them to more people? Can we bring care to more people as a result of them? I don't think I've got more to add on that, Matt. On top of that, like I said, we've got great growth rates here right now across the businesses. Again, that puts us in a space where we can be a little bit more selective.
Matt Miksic — Analyst, Barclays
Great. We'll leave it there. Thanks.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Okay.
Operator, we'll take one more question, please.
Marie Thibault — Managing Director, BTIG
Hi, thank you for taking the questions. Wanted to follow up here. You've mentioned that we'll see biosimilars on the market soon. Wanted to get a little more detail on how to think about kind of the reach of those products, the investments needed on your end, maybe in SG&A and things, and the size of some of those markets that you're trying to reach. Thanks for taking the questions.
Robert Ford — Chairman and CEO, Abbott
Sure. This is an opportunity for us to really look at how do you sustain that growth rate in this business. This is a business that has been growing between 8% and 10%. It's learned through a very strong management team how to manage through kind of FX cycles and inflation in markets, so they've been able to expand margins. This is about how do we do this in a capital-efficient way to bring more assets to an existing infrastructure that's pretty well set up, Marie, between the salesforce that calls on the doctors, that calls on retail distribution, the teams that we have in place that work with government agencies and regulators. The infrastructure in place is there. Do I think that there will be some need to add some SG&A to be able to educate the market?
Because this is a very under-penetrated market when it comes to biologics. There is some SG&A involved in that, but it's not like you're really taking advantage of the infrastructure and the scale that you have in these markets across different channels and regulators to be able to add in this. I think we'll leverage our existing presence in these emerging markets. We're going to bring these cutting-edge medicines into these countries that I say that historically lack the access. The predominance of the diseases are just as large from a % perspective than they are in the developed markets. If you look at the portfolio, we've looked at where the areas that we think will be of interest. Autoimmune disease, women's health, oncology, access to GLP-1s. The team has really done a good job here laying in here a real nice pipeline of products.
As I said, we're going to start launching in a small market this year, and then we'll start rolling them out, obviously, as they become, from a regulatory perspective, available to us. We'll be rolling them out next year. I think this can be a nice contributor here to our growth in this business in the next few years. Okay. Listen, I'll just make a few comments here to close. I'm pleased with what we've accomplished in the first half. We've delivered high single-digit sales growth and double-digit EPS. We've expanded our gross margin and operating margin, which is something that we've committed to and we've talked about, and we've done it by about 100 basis points.
The second half sales growth guidance is de-risked to account for some of these items here that I consider to be a little bit more transitory that are specific in the diagnostic space, and we're going to be lapping these next year. That still leaves $11+ billion quarterly revenue growing high single digits throughout the rest of the year. On top of that, we've reaffirmed our guidance despite some of these headwinds and the impact of tariffs. I think this is another great example of how our diversified model continues to provide that strong foundation. It's resilient, and it's well-positioned to deliver top-tier results. We've got good underlying momentum here that I'm very confident we'll carry into next year. With that, I'm going to wrap up. Thank you for joining us.
Mike Comilla — VP of Investor Relations, Abbott
Thank you, Operator. Thank you all for your questions. This now concludes Abbott's conference call. A webcast replay of this call will be available after 11:00 A.M. Central Time today on Abbott's investor relations website at abbotinvestor.com. Thank you all for joining us today.