Pharma giant Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay over $110m to a woman who claimed that talcum powder from a company’s product caused her to develop ovarian cancer.
The ruling is the largest in a long string of legal actions against Johnson & Johnson, which is facing upwards of 2,400 lawsuits related to its talcum powder products. So far, the company has been hit with verdicts of up to $200m.
The cases center around the company’s failure to provide enough warning about possible risks incurred by long-term use of talcum powder.
While the use of talcum powder has been linked to the development of cancer, evidence on the issue remains inconclusive. Some studies seem to prove that females using talcum powder products on a long term basis may have an increased risk of developing certain types of cancers, while other research leans to the contrary.
Johnson & Johnson has announced plans to appeal the ruling.