Healthcare brand Johnson & Johnson (J&J) is offering up to $5.5 billion in order to settle a lawsuit in the US with tens of thousands of customers, alleging that its products containing talcum cause ovarian cancer. Largely, the company's baby powder has been the target of the suits brought forward.
J&J has changed the formula of its baby powder, and has denied that its products containing talcum cause cancer. The firm's VP of litigation Erik Haas called the claims "meritless" in a statement, but wrote that J&J is willing to settle in order to finally call the matter resolved.
Up to 76,000 cases would be covered by the payment, with up to $3 billion being offered up next year. No additional payments are due before 2028. If this settlement is to go ahead, legal firms representing the cancer claims and federal courts must accept the proposal ahead of it being finalised.
"After decades of litigation and full vetting of the science in an extensive hearing, plaintiffs effectively conceded their inability to prove specific causation by withdrawing their experts on the topic in two bellwether cases. In a watershed moment, the Court thereafter ordered plaintiffs to show why the remaining claims should not be dismissed, confirming what we have maintained for years: that these claims lack scientific merit and were sustained only by unreliable expert opinions that could not survive rigorous judicial review," wrote Haas.
The lawsuits for ovarian cancer started as early as 2009, and while the aforementioned victory in the court room may have managed to swing matters towards J&J's favour, the company clearly wants to put this matter behind it as quickly as possible.
