Latest JnJ talc trial ends with hung jury

Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Published On 2024-03-08 08:00 GMT | Update On 2024-03-21 09:22 GMT

New York: The latest trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products cause cancer ended in a mistrial on Tuesday, as a Florida state court jury said it could not agree on a verdict.

The lawsuit was brought by Bob Sugarman, who said that J&J's talc-based baby powder led his wife to develop ovarian cancer and die from the disease.

J&J said in a statement after the mistrial that its baby powder "is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer."

Lance Oliver, a lawyer for Sugarman, said the verdict was "disappointing" but that it was "part of the system," and that he expected the case would be retried in the near future.

J&J faces more than 50,000 lawsuits over talc, most by women with ovarian cancer, with a minority of the cases involving people with mesothelioma, a type of cancer associated with asbestos exposure.

The cases were on hold for about two years after J&J attempted to resolve its talc liabilities in bankruptcy court, where it proposed to settle all current and future cases for $8.9 billion. However, federal courts dismissed two separate bankruptcy filings, allowing litigation to resume last year.

J&J has nonetheless said it may try to move the talc cases into bankruptcy a third time. In December, its worldwide vice president for litigation told investors that it had settled some talc cases "with a goal to facilitate our pursuit of a consensual prepackaged bankruptcy resolution."

Before the bankruptcy filings, trials in the talc cases had a mixed record, with major plaintiff wins including a $2.1 billion judgment in 2021 awarded to 22 women with ovarian cancer.

A New Jersey appeals court in October threw out a $223.7 million verdict against the company, finding the testimony of the plaintiffs' expert witnesses unsound.

The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in favor of cornstarch-based products, citing an increase in lawsuits and "misinformation" about the talc product's safety.

Read also: Johnson and Johnson gets USFDA approval for Rybrevant, chemotherapy combo for lung cancer treatment

Original news source: https://www.reuters.com/legal/latest-jj-talc-trial-ends-with-hung-jury-2024-03-05/

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Ruchika Sharma

Ruchika Sharma joined Medical Dialogue as an Correspondent for the Business Section in 2019. She covers all the updates in the Pharmaceutical field, Policy, Insurance, Business Healthcare, Medical News, Health News, Pharma News, Healthcare and Investment. She has completed her B.Com from Delhi University and then pursued postgraduation in M.Com. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in Contact no. 011-43720751

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Latest JnJ talc trial ends with hung jury

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