Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay $5.5bn to settle around 69,000 lawsuits in the United States alleging that its talc-based baby powder caused ovarian cancer, the pharmaceutical giant confirmed on Monday.

The deal covers approximately 99.75 per cent of outstanding talc-related cases across US federal and state courts, making it one of the most sweeping product liability resolutions in American legal history. It will only become final once at least 95 per cent of claimants in state and federal proceedings formally accept the terms.

Erik Haas, J&J’s head of litigation, said the agreement allows the company to put the matter behind it. Lawyers representing the plaintiffs described it as a satisfactory conclusion to a legal battle spanning more than a decade.

J&J has consistently maintained that its talc products did not cause cancer and continues to hold that position. It discontinued talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020 and pulled it from global markets in 2023. The World Health Organization classified talc as “probably carcinogenic to humans” in 2024.

The US litigation gathered pace from 2016, when a jury ordered J&J to pay $72m to the family of a woman who died of ovarian cancer – the first such verdict in the country. That award was subsequently overturned, but claims multiplied in the years that followed, with juries regularly finding in favour of plaintiffs.

The $5.5bn settlement does not extend to the United Kingdom, where the largest product liability case in UK legal history is currently before the High Court. Filed in October 2025, the claim involves more than 7,000 potential claimants and alleges that J&J knew its talc could cause ovarian cancer and mesothelioma yet continued to sell the product. J&J denies the allegation.

With the American chapter edging towards resolution, the UK proceedings now represent the most significant remaining legal test for the company and by scale, a case with few precedents in British courts.