Abbott, Reckitt Score First Victory in Baby Formula Trial (4)

Abbott Laboratories and a unit of Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc were cleared by a jury over claims they hid risks their premature-infant formulas can cause a bowel disease that severely sickened a baby boy. It was the companies’ first trial win in litigation over the products.

Jurors in state court in St. Louis reached the verdict Thursday, ending the latest trial of more than 1,000 lawsuits alleging the formulas can cause necrotizing enterocolitis, or NEC, a bowel ailment that has been linked to deaths and brain damage. Other juries earlier this year held the companies liable in separate trials, including ...