Abbott Laboratories agreed to pay $670 million to settle some lawsuits alleging that it hid the risk that its infant formula for premature babies can cause a deadly bowel disease.
The settlement resolves claims involving about 2,000 infants that allege the formula can cause a bowel disease called necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC. With the agreement, about 1,700 lawsuits involving claims on behalf of 12,700 infants remain, according to the company, which said it's not admitting liability. The condition can cause the intestinal tissue of premature babies to inflame and die.
“While Abbott remains confident in the safety of these products and the science supporting them, the company believes these agreements are in its best long-term interest and represent a constructive step toward substantially resolving the overall litigation,” the company said in a statement Thursday.
One of the lawsuits covered by the settlement includes a case in which a St. Louis jury said Abbott should pay $495 million to the family of an infant allegedly injured by its formula, according to the company. Abbott's appeal to the Missouri Court of Appeals was denied, the statement said.
Abbott had spent millions to lobby Congress unsuccessfully to help protect it from lawsuits related to NEC, Bloomberg reported last year.
The company has maintained that there is nothing in the current research to back up the allegations it's facing in court. It sells its preemie formula under the popular Similac brand and had said two years ago it may have to stop selling the specialized product because of the lawsuits.
The medical community doesn't fully understand what causes NEC, though it does know that babies who receive breast milk are at a much lower risk of developing it than those who are given cow's milk-based formula.
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