NEW YORK: Johnson & Johnson mentioned on Monday (Jul 27) it could pay US$5.5 billion to resolve tens of hundreds of lawsuits alleging its child powder and different talc merchandise trigger ovarian most cancers, in a landmark settlement geared toward closing a chapter of contentious litigation that has dogged the corporate for years.
J&J mentioned the settlement covers about 69,000 instances consolidated in federal court docket in New Jersey, and associated instances in state court docket, totalling 99.75 per cent of the remaining talc claims.
Plaintiffs’ regulation corporations confirmed the deal on Monday, saying it was a superb decision after a decade-long court docket battle. The deal should nonetheless be permitted by the decide overseeing the federal litigation.
J&J’s vp of litigation, Erik Haas, mentioned the claims have been “meritless” and that the corporate was prepared to settle with a purpose to get closure.
“Whereas we’re assured the corporate would have in the end prevailed with additional litigation, because it has within the overwhelming majority of instances tried up to now, this decision permits the corporate to place this matter behind it and stay targeted on its mission to develop medicines and units that save lives,” Haas mentioned.
J&J gained a major court docket victory within the long-running authorized battle final week, when a federal decide forged doubt on particular person plaintiffs’ skill to show that talc particularly precipitated their ovarian most cancers.
J&J has lengthy denied that its talc merchandise precipitated most cancers, saying that talc was protected and didn’t comprise asbestos. The corporate stopped promoting talc-based child powder within the US in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product.
The litigation resumed in March 2025, after being placed on maintain for greater than three years throughout J&J’s repeated failed makes an attempt to resolve the lawsuits by a shell firm’s chapter.
Not like the proposed chapter settlements, Monday’s settlement applies solely to current claims and doesn’t tackle future lawsuits.
