Johnson & Johnson offers $9 billion to settle 'talc caused cancer' lawsuits worldwide

US pharmaceutical major Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has said it is ready to pay up nearly $9 billion to resolve years-old pending lawsuits, which claimed that its talcum powder products meant for babies caused cancer. 

Johnson & Johnson is facing over 40,000 lawsuits from customers all over the world who have alleged that the talc-based baby powder manufactured by the pharma major caused cancer, while some have even claimed that the baby product contained cancer-causing asbestos. 

Earlier, the pharma giant had proposed $2 billion to resolve the legal battles. But now it has increased the amount significantly in hopes of closing all legal battles in this regard. 

J&J said the proposed payout would be paid to the tens of thousands of claimants over 25 years through a J&J subsidiary, LTL Management LLC, which was set up to address the claims and has filed for bankruptcy protection. 

It said that LTL has "secured commitments from over 60,000 current claimants to support a global resolution on these terms." 

If the proposal is approved by the court and a majority of the plaintiffs, the $8.9 billion payout would be one of the largest product liability settlements ever in the US in recent times. 

Under terms of the newly proposed settlement, plaintiffs diagnosed with cancer before April 1 would be paid from a bankruptcy trust within one year of a judge approving the Chapter 11 plan creating it, according to Watts, the plaintiffs’ lawyer who helped negotiate the deal. Plaintiffs diagnosed later will have access to money set aside in the trust for the next 25 years.

The firm has never admitted the charges in the past, but it stopped the sales in the US and Canada in 2020. It said due to "misinformation" regarding the product, which prevented nappy rashes in babies, the demand has gone down drastically.  

The company had sold the baby powder for almost 130 years. It continues to sell a version of the product that it claims contains cornstarch. 

The company has been trying to resolve the lawsuits in bankruptcy court since 2021, after creating a subsidiary responsible for the claims. 

The current proposal comes after a federal appeals court in the US ruled in January this year that the company could not use the bankruptcy court to resolve some 38,000 lawsuits that alleged the talc in its products caused ovarian cancer and mesothelioma. 

During that time, the New Jersey-based company had said it planned on challenging the ruling. 

"The company continues to believe that these claims are specious and lack scientific merit," Erik Haas, worldwide vice president of litigation for Johnson & Johnson said. 

He added that "resolving these cases in the tort system would take decades and impose significant costs on LTL and the system, with most claimants never receiving any compensation." 

The pharma major has won a majority of the talc lawsuits filed against it in the past. But also faced some major setbacks, including one in which 22 women were awarded relief of over $2 billion. 

(With agency inputs)  

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