Abbott to pay $385M to settle US claims over infant formula plant

Abbott Laboratories, the Illinois-based healthcare company that manufactures and sells infant formula and nutritional therapy products, has agreed to pay $384,999,040 to resolve allegations that it caused false claims to be submitted to federal and state programs.The allegations relate to the company's failure to manufacture certain powdered infant formula and nutritional therapy products at its facilities in Sturgis, Michigan, and Casa Grande, Arizona, in compliance with federal and state statutory, regulatory and contractual requirements between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2022.The settlement was announced by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Michigan.Allegations involved WIC and Medicaid programsThe U.S. Department of Agriculture funds and regulates the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which provides nutritional assistance, including infant formula, to eligible participants.More than half of all infant formula purchased in the United States is paid for through USDA funds via WIC.