Abbott Laboratories has settled its appeal of a $495 million verdict related to allegations that its infant formula caused necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a life-threatening bowel disease primarily affecting premature newborns.
The settlement was filed Monday in a Missouri appeals court, ending a legal dispute that began when a St. Louis jury in 2024 found Abbott’s Similac formula responsible for an Illinois girl’s illness. A state appeals court upheld the judgment in May, though Abbott and co-defendant Mead Johnson, a unit of Reckitt that produces Enfamil, have consistently denied liability, asserting that breast milk—not formula—provides protection against NEC.
The case is one of roughly 1,000 lawsuits consolidated across Illinois, Missouri, and Pennsylvania courts, with more than 800 cases pending in an Illinois federal court. NEC carries a mortality rate exceeding 20%, according to medical estimates cited in prior filings.
Abbott, listed on the NYSE under ticker ABT, did not disclose the terms of the settlement in court documents. The resolution follows a pattern of litigation involving infant formula manufacturers amid heightened scrutiny over product safety and corporate accountability in the healthcare sector.
