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Johnson & Johnson said on Monday it would pay $5.5 billion to resolve tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products cause ovarian cancer. The settlement covers roughly 76,000 claims, including about 69,000 cases consolidated in federal court in New Jersey and related state court cases. According to one source, this represents 99.75% of the remaining talc claims. The settlement will only become final if accepted by 95% of the ovarian cancer claimants in state or federal court.

J&J expects to pay no more than $3 billion in 2027, with additional payments due in 2028 or later. Chris Seeger, an attorney representing about 2,500 clients with talc claims, said the settlement assigns specific values to qualifying ovarian cancer claims but does not cap J&J's total payout, and the deal could ultimately be worth $7 billion or more. Erik Haas, J&J's vice president of litigation, called the claims meritless and said the company was settling to get closure. He stated that J&J was confident it would have prevailed in further litigation, as it has in the vast majority of cases tried to date.

J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020, switching to a cornstarch product. The company has denied that its talc products caused cancer, saying talc was safe and did not contain asbestos. The litigation resumed in March 2025 after being on hold for more than three years during J&J's repeated failed attempts to resolve the lawsuits through a shell company's bankruptcy. Last week, a federal judge cast doubt on individual plaintiffs' ability to prove that talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer.