J&J offers $5.5bn settlement in lawsuits claiming talc link to cancer

Settlement resolves thousands of US lawsuits, with a record UK case against the company under way.Published On 28 Jul 202628 Jul 2026Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has agreed to pay $5.5bn to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits in the United States that allege its discontinued talc-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer.The pharmaceutical giant announced the deal on Monday, saying it covers about 69,000 cases in US federal and state courts, accounting for 99.75 percent of outstanding talc-related cases in the country.Recommended Stories list of 2 itemslist 1 of 2How a study on hormonal contraception and breast cancer was distortedlist 2 of 2Jury orders Johnson & Johnson to pay $966m in talc cancer caseend of listTalc is a soft mineral and was once a staple ingredient in cosmetics and baby products, but its use has declined as concerns rose over its links to cancer.In 2024, the World Health Organization classified talc as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.J&J maintains that there is no evidence that talc causes cancer, but it stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020 and worldwide in 2023.In 2016, a US jury ordered J&J to pay $72m to the family of a wom...