J&J to Pay $5.5 Billion to Settle Talc-Related Cancer Claims

Johnson & Johnson on Monday said it agreed to a $5.5 billion commitment to resolve years of litigation related to claims that its talc products caused ovarian cancer.

The drugmaker said the proposed resolution represents “an efficient conclusion” to the lawsuits. The agreement requires the participation of lead plaintiff firms in ovarian talc litigation pending in state and federal courts that represent at least 95% of claims, according to J&J.

If enough plaintiffs sign on, the settlement will help bring to a close an issue that’s dogged J&J for at least 15 years. The women who sued allege that J&J’s hallmark baby powder and similar products made from talc were contaminated with the cancerous substance asbestos. The company denies that the powder is harmful, but it stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020 and worldwide in 2023.

J&J repeatedly tried to resolve the issue through the bankruptcy court. Critics long complained that the company, one of the most profitable in the world, was trying to use special federal rules only available to bankrupt businesses to shield itself from the lawsuits.

The company has steadfastly maintained talc doesn’t cause cancer and that there’s never been any asbestos in its baby powder — a central claim of the lawsuits against the company. J&J faced roughly 76,000 suits, though analysts predicted last year that number could balloon to more than 90,000.

“It provides finality to a saga,” Mizuho healthcare specialist Jared Holz said of the settlement.

In June, J&J said it had set aside $11 billion to settle legal matters around the issue. It was unlikely a court was going to dismiss the claims, and the company faced a likely cost of $10 billion to $12 billion in settlement costs if 93,000 suits were filed, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Holly Froum wrote last week.

J&J was told by a California jury last October to pay $966 million to the family of a deceased woman who blamed her cancer on lifelong use of the company’s baby powder in the largest verdict for a single user in the 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 the statement on the company’s website.

J&J shares rose 1.1% in afterhours trading in New York.