to these and other markets include medical and surgical supplies, skin health and infection prevention products, drug delivery systems, dental and orthodontic products, health information systems and microbiology solutions. As discussed in Note 2, the global branded pharmaceuticals business was sold in December 2006 and January 2007.

 

In 2007, Health Care sales were $3.968 billion. Local-currency growth was 18.3% (excluding divestitures), including 4.4 percentage points of growth from acquisitions and 4.5 percentage points of growth from supply agreements related to the sale of the global branded pharmaceuticals business. The sale of the pharmaceuticals business reduced Health Care sales growth by 23.7%. 3M provides disaggregated information on sales growth for Health Care’s remaining businesses (without pharmaceuticals) further below.

 

The combination of the following items positively impacted total year 2007 Health Care operating income by $791 million. As discussed in Note 2, in January 2007 the Company sold its branded pharmaceuticals business in the Europe region. The operating income gain related to this sale, which is included in Health Care, totaled $781 million. In addition, as discussed in Note 4, a net operating income gain of $10 million was recorded in 2007, which primarily related to adjustments to restructuring costs incurred in the fourth quarter of 2006.

 

In 2006, Health Care sales were $4.011 billion. Organic local-currency growth was 5.3%, with acquisitions adding an additional 0.7% of growth. Local-currency growth was led by the medical supplies and dental businesses. 3M’s pharmaceutical business was approximately 19% of Health Care sales in 2006. Pharmaceutical local-currency sales declined 3.5% in 2006, while the remaining businesses’ 2006 local-currency sales growth increased 8.5%. Geographically, Health Care’s local-currency sales growth was strongest in the United States, Europe and Asia Pacific areas. Operating income for 2006 was up 65.6%, impacted by the gain on sale of 3M’s branded pharmaceuticals business, restructuring impacts and other items as discussed in the following paragraph, which positively impacted operating income growth by 60.4%.

 

The combination of the following items positively impacted total year 2006 Health Care operating income by $673 million, primarily in the fourth quarter of 2006. As discussed in Note 2, in early December 2006, the Company sold its branded pharmaceuticals business in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia and South Africa. The Company also sold its branded pharmaceuticals business in the United States, Canada and Latin America in late December 2006. The operating income gain related to this sale, which is included in Health Care, totaled $1.074 billion. In addition, as discussed in Note 4, the Health Care segment for the year 2006 included $293 million in restructuring costs, primarily employee-related severance and benefit costs. Of the $293 million, $166 million was related to the pharmaceuticals business and $15 million related to Health Care severance and other costs. In addition, $112 million of severance and benefit costs were recorded in the fourth