09:01 AM EDT, 11/01/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Abbott (ABT) and UK-based Reckitt's Mead Johnson were cleared by a jury Thursday of responsibility for a young boy's intestinal disease in a lawsuit over baby formulas for premature babies, according to multiple media reports.

Lawyers for the plaintiff during the five-week trial in a Missouri state court urged jurors to award more than $6.2 billion, Reuters reported.

The companies still face over 1,000 lawsuits alleging their baby formulas can cause necrotizing enterocolitis, an ailment that can cause deaths or brain damage, Bloomberg reported.

Abbott did not immediately reply to MT Newswires' request for comment.

"The decision reinforces what we, the medical community and regulatory bodies have said: that preterm infant nutrition products are safe," news outlets cited the company as saying in a statement.

Shares of the pharmaceutical company were up over 5% in recent Friday premarket activity.

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