Abbott has reached a $670 million settlement with three law firms to resolve legal claims brought by 2,000 people who said they were harmed in connection with the company's specialty formulas for preterm infants. The agreement, announced on Thursday, includes one large case in which a jury-ordered award of $495 million had already been entered against Abbott.
In 2024, a jury in St. Louis concluded that Abbott's infant formula caused an Illinois child to develop necrotizing enterocolitis, a severe bowel illness that primarily affects premature newborns. That verdict was later affirmed by a state court of appeals in May 2026, and Abbott had been pursuing review by Missouri's Supreme Court prior to the settlement.
The settlement resolves a portion of a broad slate of litigation connected to specialty formulas for preterm infants. About 1,000 similar lawsuits have been filed against Abbott and against Mead Johnson, a unit of Reckitt which produces Enfamil formulas. More than 800 of those cases are centralized in an Illinois federal court, while additional suits remain active in state courts in Illinois, Missouri and Pennsylvania.
Necrotizing enterocolitis, the condition at the center of these claims, causes death of bowel tissue and primarily affects premature infants. The disease has an estimated mortality rate of more than 20%, according to the information in the record. Medical practitioners have long recognized that breast milk offers protective benefits against the condition, a point the companies have reiterated in their responses to the litigation.
Both Abbott and Reckitt have stated that, while breast milk is protective, their formulas do not cause necrotizing enterocolitis and that the benefits of breast milk have long been known to clinicians. The settlement announced on Thursday addresses a subset of the pending claims and includes the previously assessed $495 million judgment.
With hundreds of cases centralized in federal court and others continuing in state venues, the litigation landscape remains active even after this settlement. The agreement resolves a significant number of claims but does not by itself conclude all pending legal matters involving Abbott or other manufacturers of infant formula.
Context and implications
This settlement resolves a high-profile portion of mass litigation tied to specialty infant formulas for preterm babies, addresses a jury verdict that had been affirmed on appeal, and follows the companies' public statements concerning breast milk and formula. Courts in multiple jurisdictions continue to handle additional cases related to the same set of allegations.