Johnson & Johnson said Monday that it has reached a proposed $5.5 billion settlement to resolve lawsuits alleging its talcum-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer. File Photo by Dan Peled/EPA
July 28 (UPI) — U.S. healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson said it has reached a proposed $5.5 billion settlement to resolve most remaining lawsuits alleging its talc-based baby powder and other products caused ovarian cancer.
The agreement, announced Monday, follows more than a decade of litigation, including nearly a decade of consolidated federal litigation in New Jersey, along with related cases throughout the country. Tens of thousands of claimants accused Johnson & Johnson of marketing its talc products for feminine hygiene and failing to adequately warn consumers about an alleged cancer risk, despite studies dating back to the 1980s reporting an association between genital talc use and ovarian cancer.
Johnson & Johnson has denied the allegations, describing the litigation as meritless, but said it reached the agreement “to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives,” Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s worldwide vice president of litigation, said in a statement.
Before becoming final, the settlement is condition on thee participation by law firms representing at least 95% of the approximately 76,000 ovarian-cancer claimants covered by the agreement.
Johnson & Johnson expects to pay up to $3 billion in 2027, with no additional payments to be made until 2028.
Johnson & Johnson has been facing talc-related lawsuits since at least the late 2000s and has paid out billions of dollars in judgments and settlements. In 2021, it paid about $2.5 billion, including interest, to women whose claims that the company’s talcum powder caused their cancer were consolidated in Missouri.
In 2024, it agreed to pay $700 million to resolve a separate investigation launched by a coalition of 43 attorneys general into allegations that it deceptively marketed the safety and purity of its talc-based products.
The agreement announced Monday was made on the heels of a federal magistrate judge overseeing the multi-district litigation ordered plaintiffs last week to explain why claims should not be dismissed for failing to present specific causation in pending talc claims. Johnson & Johnson said the order affirms its position that the allegations are “premised on junk science.”
Johnson & Johnson discontinued its talc-based Baby Powder in the United States and Canada in 2020 and worldwide in 2023.