NEW YORK CITY, New York: Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay an estimated US$5.5 billion to settle tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging its baby powder and other talc products caused ovarian cancer. This landmark agreement could bring an end to one of the longest-running legal battles in the company's history.

The company said that the settlement covers about 76,000 claims, including lawsuits consolidated in federal court in New Jersey and related state court cases, representing nearly all of the remaining talc claims against J&J. The company has already settled most lawsuits alleging its talc products contained asbestos and caused mesothelioma.

Plaintiffs' law firms confirmed the agreement, describing it as a fair resolution after a decade of litigation. The settlement will become final if it is accepted by 95 percent of ovarian cancer claimants in state or federal court.

J&J Vice President of Litigation Erik Haas said the company continued to believe the claims lacked merit but decided to settle to end the litigation.

"While we are confident the company would have ultimately prevailed with further litigation, as it has in the vast majority of cases tried to date, this resolution allows the company to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives," Haas said.

J&J expects to pay $3 billion in 2027, with additional payments scheduled for 2028. However, the total amount could exceed the estimated $5.5 billion depending on how many claimants participate.

Chris Seeger, an attorney representing about 2,500 talc claimants who helped negotiate the agreement, said the company's total payout could ultimately surpass $7 billion because the settlement sets values for qualifying claims without placing a cap on J&J's overall liability.

"We got a fair settlement, and our clients are going to be happy with it," Seeger said.

The agreement follows a series of courtroom victories for J&J, including favorable trial outcomes, successful efforts to disqualify some plaintiffs' lawyers and court rulings limiting expert testimony supporting the claims. Last week, the company secured another legal win when a federal judge questioned whether individual plaintiffs could prove talc specifically caused their ovarian cancer.

J&J has consistently denied that its talc products caused cancer, maintaining that the products were safe and free of asbestos. The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the United States in 2020 and replaced it with a cornstarch-based version.

The litigation resumed in March 2025 after being paused for more than three years while J&J unsuccessfully attempted to resolve the cases through three bankruptcy filings involving a subsidiary. Unlike those proposed bankruptcy settlements, the new agreement applies only to existing claims and does not cover future lawsuits.

Seeger said excluding future claims allowed more money to be distributed to current plaintiffs while shortening the payment timeline to about 18 months instead of more than a decade.