By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) -Abbott and Reckitt unit Mead Johnson are not responsible for a young boy's debilitating intestinal disease, a jury found on Thursday in a lawsuit accusing them of failing to warn of their premature baby formulas' risks.

The Whitfield family legal case was just one of many still pending relating to the necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) disease.

In closing arguments on Wednesday, plaintiff's lawyer Timothy Cronin asked jurors for $6 billion in punitive damages.

A lawyer for a Missouri mother on Wednesday asked a jury to make Abbott and Reckitt's Mead Johnson pay a total of more than $6 billion in the latest trial over claims that the companies' formulas for premature babies caused a severe intestinal illness.

The infant formula manufacturers were facing $6.2bn in punitive damages over allegations their infant formula products caused a potentially life-threatening intestinal disease in a prematurely-born baby.

Abbott and Reckitt's unit Mead Johnson are not responsible for a young boy's debilitating intestinal disease, a jury found on Thursday in a lawsuit that accused the companies of failing to warn of the risks of premature baby formulas.

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.