Insurance
Home›Insurance›Industry & Deals›Abbott reaches $670 million settlement for infant form…
Abbott reaches $670 million settlement for infant formula claims
The settlement is tied to allegations covering 2,000 people, including a prior $495 million order in a case involving necrotizing enterocolitis.
Abbott said it reached a $670 million settlement with three law firms to resolve infant formula-related legal claims brought by 2,000 people alleging harms tied to the company’s specialty formulas for preterm infants, according to Insurance Journal.
The deal includes one major case in which Abbott had already been ordered to pay $495 million. In 2024, a St. Louis jury found that Abbott’s infant formula caused an Illinois girl to develop necrotizing enterocolitis, a dangerous bowel disease, and Abbott had been appealing to Missouri’s Supreme Court after a state appeals court affirmed the judgment in May 2026.
Insurance Journal reported that about 1,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against Abbott, alongside claims involving Mead Johnson, a unit of Reckitt, which makes Enfamil formulas. More than 800 of the cases are centralized in an Illinois federal court, with others pending in state courts in Illinois, Missouri, and Pennsylvania.
Necrotizing enterocolitis mostly affects premature newborns and can lead to death of bowel tissue, with an estimated mortality rate above 20%. Abbott and the companies said their formulas do not cause the disease, while noting that breast milk protects against it.