US pharma giant Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has agreed to pay $5.5 billion (£4.4 billion) to resolve roughly 76,000 US lawsuits that claim the company’s baby powder and other talc-based products caused ovarian cancer, bringing more than a decade of litigation to a close. The settlement, announced on 27 July, requires at least 95% of the eligible claimants accepting the deal. If approved, J&J’s first payment of up to $3 billion is due in 2027, with subsequent payments after 2028.
The company is reasserting its position that cosmetic talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer. Despite confidence that the company would have ‘ultimately prevailed with further litigation’, Erik Haas, J&J’s worldwide vice president of litigation said that the resolution allows J&J to ‘put this matter behind it’.
In recent years, J&J has unsuccessfully sued researchers who published studies linking its talc products to cancer, alleging that their studies were fraudulent.
Meanwhile, the plaintiffs’ lead attorney, Chris Seeger, said the settlement ensures that the ‘plaintiffs receive fair and meaningful compensation’ for their injures. ‘More than a decade of protracted litigation and three failed bankruptcies has left tens of thousands of women and their families waiting far too long for relief, Seeger stated.
The $5.5 billion figure in this new settlement is less than the company previously offered through its attempts to transfer its talc liability to a subsidiary, which would then declare bankruptcy. In March 2025, a US bankruptcy court denied J&J’s third attempt to employ this strategy. That was an $8 billion bankruptcy settlement plan to be paid out over 25 years to resolve more than 90,000 lawsuits – including many relating to other forms of cancer. J&J said the latest proposal ‘complements the progress the company has already made to resolve talc litigation, including previously settling about 95% of filed mesothelioma lawsuits’.
This deal does not affect the lawsuits against J&J’s powder products that are being pursued in the UK and in other countries.
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