(Reuters) — A jury Friday found that Abbott Laboratories specialized formula for premature infants caused an Illinois girl to develop a dangerous bowel disease, ordering the health care company to pay $495 million in damages.
The verdict in state court in St. Louis came in the first trial against the company out of hundreds of similar claims over the formula pending in courts around the country.
Illinois resident Margo Gill, who brought the case against Abbott, alleged that the company failed to warn that its formula could cause a potentially deadly disease called necrotizing enterocolitis in premature babies. The jury awarded her $95 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages.
The jury verdict was not unanimous and was supported by nine of the 12 jurors in the case. To return a verdict in a civil case in Missouri, three-fourths of jurors must agree.
Abbott said it strongly disagreed with the verdict and would try to have it overturned.
NEC, which causes the death of bowel tissue, mostly affects premature newborns and has a fatality rate of between 15% and 40%. Ms. Gill’s child, who developed NEC after being given Abbott premature infant formula while in a neonatal intensive care unit in 2021, survived, but suffered irreversible neurological damage because of her illness and will require long-term care.
