ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 18 -- Abbott Laboratories, Abbott Park, Illinois, has been assigned a patent (8,778,994) developed by four co-inventors for a "method of using beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate and fatty acids for treating disease-associated wasting." The co-inventors are Jeffrey H. Baxter, Westerville, Ohio, Anne C. Voss, Columbus, Ohio, Pradip Mukerji, Gahanna, Ohio, and Michael J. Tisdale, Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The patent application was filed on Jan. 11, 2012 (13/348 . . .