Johnson & Johnson to Pay $5.5B to Settle Talc-Related Cancer Claims

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to commit $5.5 billion to resolve years of litigation over claims that its talc-based products caused ovarian cancer.

The healthcare giant said the proposed settlement would provide “an efficient conclusion” to the lawsuits. The agreement requires participation from lead plaintiff law firms handling ovarian talc litigation in state and federal courts, representing at least 95% of claims, according to J&J.

If approved, the settlement could bring closure to a legal battle that has challenged the company for more than 15 years. Plaintiffs allege that J&J’s iconic baby powder and other talc-based products were contaminated with asbestos, a substance linked to cancer. The company has consistently denied the allegations, maintaining that its products are safe and that its baby powder never contained asbestos.

J&J discontinued sales of talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020 and globally in 2023, replacing it with a cornstarch-based version.

The company had previously attempted to resolve the litigation through bankruptcy proceedings, a move criticised by opponents who argued that J&J, one of the world’s most profitable companies, was attempting to use bankruptcy protections to limit liability.

J&J has faced around 76,000 lawsuits related to talc products, with analysts warning last year that the number could exceed 90,000. The company said the settlement would allow it to move beyond the litigation and focus on developing medicines and medical devices.

“It provides finality to a saga,” Mizuho healthcare analyst Jared Holz said, commenting on the proposed resolution.

In June, J&J disclosed that it had set aside $11 billion to address legal matters linked to the talc claims. Analysts estimated that resolving the litigation could cost the company between $10 billion and $12 billion if the number of claims reached about 93,000.

The company also faced a major setback last October when a California jury ordered J&J to pay $966 million to the family of a woman who alleged that decades of using the company’s baby powder contributed to her cancer. It was the largest single-user verdict in the long-running litigation.

“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,” J&J Vice President of Litigation Erik Haas said in a statement published on the company’s website.