Reckitt Loses $9 Billion Market Value After US Verdict.

Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc, a UK company, saw its stock price drop by 20% after a jury awarded $60 million in damages to an Illinois woman whose premature baby died after consuming the company's Enfamil baby formula. The verdict, the first of its kind to go to trial in the US, caused Reckitt to lose about $9 billion in market value. The jury found that Reckitt's Mead Johnson Nutrition unit failed to warn the woman about the risks of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) associated with the formula. Reckitt plans to appeal the verdict and maintains that its products are safe. Other formula makers, including Abbott Laboratories, also saw their stock prices decline in response to the verdict. Thousands of lawsuits related to NEC risk are pending against Mead Johnson and Abbott. [Extracted from the article]