American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson has offered to pay $5.5 billion to settle long-running lawsuits over accusations that the company’s baby powder and other products containing talcum caused ovarian cancer.
Johnson & Johnson announced the decision in a statement on Monday, noting the settlement will cover about 76,000 cases against the company in several courts across the United States.
However, the agreement still needs to be sanctioned by legal firms representing 95 per cent of claimants in both state and federal courts.
“Johnson & Johnson today announced that it has reached an agreement for a comprehensive resolution of the remaining talc litigation with the plaintiff firms leading the federal Multi-District Litigation (MDL) and related state court proceedings, conditioned on, among other things, the express participation of at least 95 per cent of the remaining claims,” the company said.
The pharmaceutical firm also mentioned that the proposed resolution “follows a favourable ruling by the MDL court, and acknowledgement by plaintiffs’ counsel, regarding plaintiffs’ inability to prove that the company’s talc products caused any particular claimant’s ovarian cancer”.
Talc is a soft mineral that was once a common ingredient in cosmetics and baby products, but its use has declined in recent years due to growing concerns about its potential link to cancer.
It was eventually classified as “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the World Health Organisation in 2024.
Johnson & Johnson, however, maintained that there was no evidence that talc is capable of causing cancer. The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020 and worldwide in 2023.
“The court’s order placed plaintiffs in an untenable position of having to present specific causation evidence to maintain their claims that does not exist.
“While we are confident the company would have ultimately prevailed with further litigation, as it has in the vast majority of cases tried to date, this resolution allows the company to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives,” the company explained.
