1660282330 Live News Updates Lee Jae yong Officially Pardoned From Bribery Allegations

Live News Updates: Lee Jae-yong Officially Pardoned From Bribery Allegations

Johnson & Johnson halted sales of the talc-based power in the US and Canada in 2020, citing weak sales © Portal

Johnson & Johnson has announced it will end production of its talc-based baby powder in 2023 as it fights nearly 40,000 legal claims that the product caused users to develop cancer.

The US drugmaker said Thursday that it had decided to switch to a cornstarch-based baby powder it had already launched in the US and Canadian markets.

J&J said its position on the safety of the talc-based product, which has been sold for more than a century and is closely associated with the J&J brand, remains unchanged.

“We stand firmly behind decades of independent scientific analysis by medical experts around the world, which confirms that JOHNSON’S® talc-based baby powder is safe, contains no asbestos and does not cause cancer,” the company said in a statement.

J&J halted sales of the talc-based power in the US and Canada in 2020, citing weak sales. That decision coincided with a spate of lawsuits from people alleging that J&J’s talc-based baby powder product had been contaminated with asbestos and caused them to develop either ovarian cancer or mesothelioma.

J&J has lost several big cases, including a Missouri decision awarding $4.7 billion in damages to 22 women who blamed their ovarian cancer on asbestos in the drugmaker’s baby powder. In June, the Supreme Court refused to review the case, which had already seen damages reduced to $2.1 billion.

Last year, J&J employed a controversial bankruptcy strategy known as the “Texas Two Step” to handle its nearly 40,000 cases.

The bankruptcy maneuver took advantage of pro-business laws in Texas that allowed J&J to split into two separate entities and hedge all of its talc liabilities within a subsidiary it called LTL. LTL then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, which stayed all Talk claims.

The plaintiffs have taken legal action to prevent the bankruptcy.