Johnson & Johnson Proposes $6.5B Settlement for Talc Lawsuits

Published: 01 May 2024 at 13:19

Business

Johnson & Johnson plans to pay nearly $6.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits alleging that its talc-based powder causes cancer. Through a bankruptcy filing, the company aims to resolve 99.75% of pending talc lawsuits in the US over 25 years. As of July 2023, over 34,000 lawsuits linked J&J's baby powder to ovarian cancer and asbestos poisoning. The company denies the claims, stating they lack merit and are based on rejected allegations by experts and regulatory bodies.

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Johnson & Johnson (Wikipedia)

Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. (J&J) is an American multinational, pharmaceutical, and medical technologies corporation headquartered in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and the company is ranked No. 40 on the 2023 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations. In 2023, the company was ranked 40th in the Forbes Global 2000. Johnson & Johnson has a global workforce of approximately 130,000 employees who are led by the company's current chairman and chief executive officer, Joaquin Duato.Johnson & Johnson was founded in 1886 by three brothers, Robert Wood Johnson, James Wood Johnson, and Edward Mead Johnson, selling ready-to-use sterile surgical dressings. In 2023, the company split off its consumer healthcare business sector into a new publicly traded company, Kenvue. The company is exclusively focused on developing and producing pharmaceutical prescription drugs and medical device technologies.Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's most valuable companies and is one of only two U.S.-based companies that has a prime credit rating of AAA.