San Diego, CA -- (SBWIRE) -- 09/13/2022 -- An investor, who purchased shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), filed a lawsuit over alleged Securities Laws violations by Abbott Laboratories in connection with certain allegedly false and misleading statements.

Investors who purchased shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) have certain options and for certain investors are short and strict deadlines running. Deadline: October 31, 2022. NYSE: ABT investors should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

Chicago, IL based Abbott Laboratories, together with its subsidiaries, discovers, develops, manufactures, and sells health care products worldwide, including various forms of infant formula sold under the brand names Similac, Alimentum, and EleCare.

By early 2022, Abbott Laboratories was responsible for producing 40 percent of the United States' infant formula. Of that amount, nearly half was produced in the Company's manufacturing facility in Sturgis, Michigan ("Sturgis"), meaning that Abbott Laboratories' Sturgis facility fed roughly one in six formula-fed babies in the United States.

The plaintiff alleges that Abbott Laboratories' Sturgis facility was in flagrant violation of multiple federal and state health and safety regulations.

The plaintiff alleges that those violations, which Defendants willfully or recklessly concealed from investors, put Abbott Laboratories' infant formula business in dire jeopardy and left the Company exposed to a risk of severe regulatory action, including the recall of its products and closure of the Sturgis facility.

The plaintiff says that by no later than February 2021 and between February 19, 2021 and June 8, 2022, Abbott Laboratories and Defendants received direct warnings, communications, FDA inspection reports, and consumer complaints identifying in detail the safety and regulatory violations that were rampant at the Sturgis facility and that as a result of Defendants' misrepresentations and omissions, Abbott Laboratories common stock traded at artificially inflated prices between February 19, 2021 and June 8, 2022.

On February 17, 2022, the FDA publicly announced that it was investigating four consumer complaints of infant illness related to powdered infant formula produced by Abbott Laboratories in Sturgis. The FDA stated that it had initiated an onsite inspection at the facility, and to date had found several positive contamination results from environmental samples for a bacteria, Cronobacter sakazakii ("Cronobacter"), linked to infant illnesses and death. The FDA also revealed that its review of Abbott's internal records indicated "environmental contamination with Cronobacter and the firm's destruction of product due to the presence of Cronobacter."

In the following days, Abbott Laboratories was forced to close the Sturgis plant due to the severe safety problems, shuttering one of the major sources of infant formula for the entire United States, as well as certain Canadian and foreign markets.

On March 22, 2022, the FDA released reports from its three inspections of the Sturgis facility conducted from 2019 through 2022. Those reports indicated that (a) Abbott failed to establish process controls "designed to ensure that infant formula does not become adulterated due to the presence of microorganisms in the formula or in the processing environment" and (b) Abbott failed to "ensure that all surfaces that contacted infant formula were maintained to protect infant formula from being contaminated by any source."

As the FDA investigation continued, a redacted copy of a whistleblower complaint sent to the FDA in October 2021 was made public on April 22, 2022. Among other things, the whistleblower complaint revealed that the issues disclosed in February and March 2022 were actually known to Abbott's management far earlier.

Then, on June 8, 2022, investors learned that, Abbott Laboratories was aware of the whistleblower's formal allegations in early 2021, when it was reported that the FDA whistleblower had filed a complaint in February 2021 with the U.S. Labor Department's Occupational Safety & Health Administration ("OSHA"), and that OSHA delivered that complaint to Abbott and the FDA during the same month.

Shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) declined from $142.60 per share on December 27, 2022, to as low as $101.24 per share on June 16, 2022.

The plaintiff claims that between February 19, 2021 and June 8, 2022, the Defendants made numerous materially false and misleading statements and omissions concerning what the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA") called "egregiously unsanitary" conditions at the Company's Sturgis facility, and that the Defendants repeatedly touted to investors the safety and salability of Abbott's infant formula brands and their contribution to the Company's sales and revenue growth.

Those who purchased shares of Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT) have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation.

Contact:
Shareholders Foundation, Inc.
Christopher Clausen
3111 Camino Del Rio North - Suite 423
92108 San Diego
Phone: +1-(858)-779-1554
Fax: +1-(858)-605-5739
mail@shareholdersfoundation.com

About The Shareholders Foundation
The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is a professional portfolio monitoring and settlement claim filing service, , which does research related to shareholder issues and informs investors of securities class actions, settlements, judgments, and other legal related news to the stock/financial market. Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is in contact with a large number of shareholders and offers help, support, and assistance for every shareholder. The Shareholders Foundation, Inc. is not a law firm. Referenced cases, investigation, and/or settlements are not filed/reached and/or related to Shareholders Foundation. The information is provided as a public service. It is not intended as legal advice and should not be relied upon.