Johnson & Johnson To Pay $700 Million To Conclude Talc Investigation By Over 40 US States: Report

The firm has maintained that its products don't cause cancer and that it has marketed its baby powder correctly for over a century

The firm is currently facing over 50,000 suits alleging that the firm hid the asbestos in its talc-based powders, which posed a cancer risk.

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Johnson & Johnson has tentatively agreed to pay nearly $700 million to conclude an investigation by over 40 US states into claims that it wrongly marketed its talc-based baby powder by not warning the customers about the potential health risks associated with it, a news report said citing anonymous sources familiar with the deal. 

The settlement would help the firm avoid potential lawsuits alleging that the company hid any relation between the talc in its powder and several cancers, reported Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the issue. They added that J&J and the representatives for the state attorneys general are still discussing the specific terms of the accord, however, they have reached an agreement on the approximate total amount. 

Analysts noted that the settlement is part of the firm’s strategy to collectively limit the increasing number of lawsuits alleging the firm of hiding its baby powder’s health risks after it failed two times to earlier use the bankruptcy courts to levy a settlement on former users. The litigation in addition to the prospect of possible future cancer suits has impacted the firm’s stock price, the report stated. 

Notably, Johnson & Johnson has legal exposure in addition to the states’ claims. It currently is facing over 50,000 suits alleging that the firm hid the asbestos in its talc-based powders, which posed a cancer risk. The majority of these claims pertain to women who got ovarian cancer, however, others involved mesothelioma, which is a cancer tied to asbestos exposure. 

The company has maintained that its products don't cause cancer and that it has marketed its baby powder correctly for over a century. It also managed to win certain court cases and dismissed others before trial. 

Since 2014, nearly a dozen juries have given nearly $6.5 billion in damages to consumers who held the powders responsible for causing them cancer, the report said citing data compiled by Bloomberg News. Johnson & Johnson removed all its talc-based powders from the market in the US and Canada in 2020, attributing it to reducing sales. It started pushing an alternative product replacing talc with a cornstarch-based version and committed to removing the baby powder products globally by year end.