Johnson & Johnson Preparing $3.9 Billion for Talc Settlements

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson has set aside $3.9 billion for talc-related litigation, according to a regulatory filing this week with the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington D.C. The company said it’s now facing more than 25,000 lawsuits related to various talc products that have allegedly caused cancers, primarily from asbestos fiber contamination. The $3.9 billion is almost double the amount that Johnson & Johnson reported being set aside for litigation expenses in its 2020 fiscal year-end results. A Missouri Court of Appeals earlier last year upheld a lower-court ruling, but reduced the award from $4.69 billion to $2.12 billion in damages to 22 women who claimed that J&J’s iconic baby powder caused their ovarian cancer. The company is currently appealing that award to the United States Supreme Court. “The company continues to believe that it has strong legal grounds for the appeal of this verdict, as well as other verdicts that it has appealed,” the company said in the official filing Monday. “Notwithstanding the company’s confidence in the safety of its talc products, in certain circumstances the company has and may settle cases.” Johnson & Johnson has continued to insist that its products are safe to use, and that any cases of contaminated talc were isolated incidents or because of faulty testing. Mesothelioma Cases Are Rising While the vast majority of cases pending against J&J are related to ovarian cancer, a...
Source: Asbestos and Mesothelioma News - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Source Type: news