Similac NeoSure Formula Caused NEC for Preterm Baby, Lawsuit Claims

Family alleges link between NEC and Similac NeoSure Formula fed to newborn immediately after birth in the NICU, leading permanent injuries for the premature child.

A family from Nevada has filed a lawsuit against Abbott Laboratories, alleging that Similac Neosure caused NEC for their preterm baby, leaving the child with life-long injuries after surviving the severe gastrointestinal disorder caused by cow’s milk infant formula.

The complaint (PDF) was filed by Darius Medly and Chakoya Robinson, the parents of a minor child identified only with the initials K.M. in the lawsuit, which was brought in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada on February 12.

The Similac NeoSure lawsuit names Abbott Laboratories as the sole defendant, indicating the company failed to warn parents and the medical community that it’s infant formula recipe exposes premature babies to an increased the risk of Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), a devastating disease that occurs when the wall of the intestine are invaded by bacteria, leading to destruction of the bowel and often requiring emergency surgery while the baby is still in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

According to the lawsuit, K.M. was born after only just under 24 weeks of gestation in July 2018, weighing only one pound and one ounce. He was placed in a neonatal intensive care unit, where he was fed NeoSure and developed NEC, which his parents blame on the Similac product. As a result, KM suffered a failure to thrive, severe and ongoing developmental delays, bowel problems and permanent injuries.

The family alleges that Abbott Laboratories knew or should have known for years about the link between Similac and NEC, yet falsely advertised NeoSure as safe for premature infants.

“This marketing is designed to instill confidence in Defendant Abbott’s NeoSure, and to plant the seed in parents’ minds that such formula is safe and necessary to the growth of a premature infant,” the lawsuit states. “Although Defendant Abbott engages in an aggressive marketing campaign designed to make parents believe that NeoSure is safe and necessary for growth of a premature infant, the product is in fact highly dangerous to premature infants.”

NEC Risk for Premature Infants Fed Similac NeoSure Formula

Studies have shown that cow’s milk formula products like Similac NeoSure and Enfamil cause NEC at substantially higher rates than is seen among premature babies fed breast milk or donor milk alone. However, the lawsuit maintains that Abbott Laboratories failed to provide adequate warnings or instructions about the risk.

In a study published in November, Canadian researchers warned that preterm and low birth weight infants given cow’s milk-based formula were three times as likely to be transferred to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for suspected NEC than those given donor milk.

Similar findings were published in October in the medical journal Nutrients, which found that breast milk was the “gold standard” for nutritional support during infancy, with antimicrobial and bioactive factors which helped prevent NEC.

The lawsuit by KM’s parents now joins a growing number of NEC lawsuits being filed against the makers of Similac and Enfamil, each raising similar factual allegations that marketing by the manufacturers caused these formulas to displace breast milk that infants would have otherwise received, robbing them of a primary defense against NEC.