Johnson & Johnson announced Monday that it has agreed to pay $5.5 billion to settle a massive wave of lawsuits alleging that its baby powder and other talc-based products led to ovarian cancer in users.
The company said the settlement covers approximately 69,000 cases that had been consolidated in federal court, along with related cases filed in state courts. Together, those cases represent 99.75% of all outstanding talc-related claims against the company.
Attorneys representing the plaintiffs confirmed the agreement Monday, describing it as a positive outcome following nearly ten years of litigation.
The settlement comes just days after J&J scored a notable legal win, when a federal judge raised serious questions about whether individual plaintiffs could demonstrate that talc was the specific cause of their ovarian cancer diagnoses.
Throughout the legal fight, J&J maintained that its talc products were safe and free of asbestos, and denied that they caused cancer. The company had already removed talc-based baby powder from U.S. store shelves in 2020, replacing it with a cornstarch-based alternative.
The lawsuits had been paused for more than three years while J&J made multiple unsuccessful attempts to use a subsidiary company’s bankruptcy proceedings to resolve the claims. Active litigation resumed in March 2025 after those efforts ultimately failed.
