Johnson & Johnson agreed on Monday to a $5.5 billion settlement to resolve tens of thousands of US lawsuits alleging that its talc-based baby powder and related products caused ovarian cancer. The deal covers approximately 69,000 cases consolidated in federal court in New Jersey, as well as related state court cases, representing 99.75% of the company's remaining talc claims. The agreement must clear two further hurdles before it becomes final: lead plaintiff firms representing at least 95% of claims must participate, and the settlement requires approval from the judge overseeing the federal litigation.
J&J shares rose 1.1% in after-hours trading in New York following the announcement. The settlement figure compares favourably to an earlier Bloomberg Intelligence estimate. Analyst Holly Froum wrote last week that J&J faced a likely cost of $10 billion to $12 billion in settlement costs if 93,000 suits were filed [Source: Bloomberg]. Plaintiffs' law firms confirmed the deal on Monday, describing it as a good resolution after a decade-long court battle.
Despite agreeing to the payment, J&J maintained its longstanding position on the underlying science. Erik Haas, the company's vice president of litigation, said the claims were 'meritless' and that the company was willing to settle in order to achieve closure [Source: Reuters]. J&J has consistently denied that its talc products caused cancer, saying the products were safe and did not contain asbestos. The settlement applies only to existing claims and does not address future lawsuits, distinguishing it from prior proposed bankruptcy settlements that sought broader finality.
The litigation has weighed on J&J for at least 15 years. The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020, switching to a cornstarch-based product, and withdrew the talc product from the worldwide market in 2023. The cases resumed in March 2025 after being put on hold for more than three years during J&J's repeated failed attempts to resolve the lawsuits through a shell company's bankruptcy. A California jury last October ordered J&J to pay $966 million to the family of a deceased woman who attributed her cancer to lifelong use of the company's baby powder, the largest verdict for a single claimant in the litigation. J&J also won a significant court victory last week when a federal judge cast doubt on individual plaintiffs' ability to prove that talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer. A record UK case against J&J over talc is currently under way.
Sources: Bloomberg, Reuters, Sky News, Al Jazeera