Johnson & Johnson has reached a $5.5 billion settlement to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc-based products, including baby powder, caused ovarian cancer. This agreement represents one of the largest settlements in the prolonged legal disputes surrounding the safety of the company’s talc products.
The settlement covers about 69,000 lawsuits consolidated in federal court in New Jersey, as well as related cases pending in various state courts. The company stated that this deal would resolve approximately 99.75% of the remaining ovarian cancer claims related to talc.
For the settlement to be finalized, it requires approval from 95% of the ovarian cancer claimants involved in both state and federal litigation. This development brings Johnson & Johnson closer to concluding years of contentious legal battles over the alleged health risks of its talc products.
Law firms representing the plaintiffs welcomed the agreement, describing it as a positive resolution after more than a decade of court proceedings. However, the deal only applies to current claims and does not cover any future lawsuits.
Erik Haas, Johnson & Johnson’s vice president of litigation, maintained that the claims were without merit. He emphasized that while the company was confident it would have prevailed in further litigation—as it had in most cases tried so far—it opted to settle to bring closure to the matter.
“This resolution allows the company to move past the litigation and focus on its core mission of developing life-saving medicines and devices,” Haas added.
In a significant development last week, a federal judge cast doubt on plaintiffs’ ability to prove that talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer, marking a notable legal victory for Johnson & Johnson.
The company has consistently denied that its talc products caused cancer, asserting that the talc was safe and free from asbestos contamination. Johnson & Johnson ceased selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, replacing it with a cornstarch-based alternative.
The litigation resumed in March 2025 after a pause of more than three years, during which Johnson & Johnson attempted unsuccessfully to resolve the claims through a bankruptcy filing by a subsidiary. Unlike those proposed bankruptcy settlements, the current agreement only addresses existing claims, leaving future lawsuits unaffected.
