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Cosmetic Talc Litigation Media Coverage November 01, 2016
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J&J Takes $70M Hit in Third Talc Ovarian Cancer Trial Loss
Oct 31, 2016 | Drugwatch
By Michelle Llamas
Johnson & Johnson received its third trial loss in a row over claims its talc powder can cause ovarian cancer after a St. Louis jury recently awarded nearly $70 million to a cancer patient. -
Jury Says Baby Powder Causes Ovarian Cancer, Johnson & Johnson Losing Millions
Oct 31, 2016 | Nature World News
By Monica Antonio
Giant company Johnson & Johnson is once again on the hot seat after losing $70.1 million dollars in a lawsuit on whether their iconic baby powder could cause ovarian cancer. -
Woman Awarded More Than $70 Million in 3rd Lawsuit Linking Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer
Oct 31, 2016 | The Cut (New York Magazine)
By Susan Rinkunas
Johnson & Johnson’s legal team is not having a great year. For the third time in 2016, a St. Louis jury awarded a multimillion-dollar verdict to a woman who says using Johnson’s Baby Powder for feminine hygiene caused her to develop ovarian cancer. -
Jury smacks J&J with $67M in talc-powder damages, its third defeat this year
Oct 31, 2016 | Fierce Pharma
By Eric Sagonowsky
Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder damages are adding up. In the third verdict this year to go against the company, jurors in St. Louis ordered J&J to pay about $67.5 million to a woman who argued her ovarian cancer was linked to routine talc use. -
US women change talc claim to remove Rio Tinto as defendant
Nov 1, 2016 | Brisbane Times
By Sarah Danckert
The ovarian cancer sufferers who alleged their use of talcum powder sourced from Rio Tinto's talc mines led to their medical condition have dropped their case against the Australian mining giant.
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J&J Takes $70M Hit in Third Talc Ovarian Cancer Trial Loss
Oct 31, 2016 | Drugwatch
By Michelle Llamas
Johnson & Johnson received its third trial loss in a row over claims its talc powder can cause ovarian cancer after a St. Louis jury recently awarded nearly $70 million to a cancer patient. In a 9-3 vote, the jury awarded compensatory and punitive damages to 63-year-old Deborah Giannecchini, who said J&J’s talc powder caused her Stage IV ovarian cancer.
The jury assessed $65 million for damages and $2.475 million for compensation. Jurors also ordered co-defendant Imerys Talc America, Inc. to pay $2.5 million for damages.
The verdict was handed down October 27, 2016.
Johnson & Johnson said it would appeal. The pharmaceutical giant lost the last two trials with verdicts of $72 million and $55 million. In previous talc trials, juries absolved the company of liability.
“I’ve waited for a long time for this,” Giannecchini told Bloomberg. “I’ve wanted this so badly.”
The plaintiff used J&J’s baby powder for about 40 years until she received her ovarian cancer diagnosis. Her doctors say she has an 80 percent chance of dying in the next two years.Studies Link Baby Powder to Cancer
The connection between talcum powder and ovarian cancer surfaced in the 1970s.
According to a handful of studies, the fine powder could cause cancer after talc particles travel from the genitals through the cervix and embed in ovaries.
In 2013, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital found between 20 and 30 percent of women who used talcum powder for personal hygiene had an increased risk.
Plaintiffs’ attorneys stand by these results.
“Yet another jury has heard the evidence outlining a link between Johnson & Johnson’s talcum powder products and ovarian cancer, and has decided that there is a clear connection,” Ted Meadows, Giannecchini’s lawyer, told The National Law Journal.
There are roughly 2,000 talc lawsuits pending in several courts across the country — the majority are against J&J. Despite the losses, J&J continues to challenge verdicts.
“We will appeal today’s verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s baby powder,” J&J spokeswoman Carol Goodrich told The National Law Journal.Juror: J&J ‘Seemed Like They Didn’t Care’
Jurors in this trial felt the baby powder manufacturer should have added warning labels on its talc products, which include Johnson’s Baby Powder and Shower-to-Shower.
“It seemed like Johnson & Johnson didn’t pay attention,” juror Billie Ray of St. Louis told Bloomberg. “It seemed like they didn’t care.”
During the trial, plaintiff’s lawyers said the drug giant was aware of “30 years of studies showing an increased risk of ovarian cancer from the use of talc,” Bloomberg reported. “They knew, and they knew the public was unaware of the risk,” said Allen Smith, another attorney for Giannecchini. Smith also said J&J developed a strategy to prevent government regulation of its products.
This third trial loss for J&J brings the total to about $200 million awarded to plaintiffs. Ovarian cancer is not the only cancer linked to talc. A California jury awarded $18 million to a man who said talcum powder caused his mesothelioma — a rare cancer that affects the lining of the lungs.
J&J continues to deny the link between talc and ovarian cancer.
“Science, research, clinical evidence and decades of studies by medical experts around the world continue to support the safety of cosmetic talc,” Goodrich said.
https://www.drugwatch.com/2016/10/31/jj-70m-talc-ovarian-cancer-loss/
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Jury Says Baby Powder Causes Ovarian Cancer, Johnson & Johnson Losing Millions
Oct 31, 2016 | Nature World News
By Monica Antonio
Giant company Johnson & Johnson is once again on the hot seat after losing $70.1 million dollars in a lawsuit on whether their iconic baby powder could cause ovarian cancer.
According to a report from FOX News, on Thursday, a jury in St. Louis made their verdict in favor Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, awarding the woman $70.1 million dollars.
Giannechini was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2012 when she was 59 years old and blamed Johnson & Johnson for acquiring the disease. According to her, she used Johnson's Baby Powder for more than four decades on her genitalia for hygiene purposes as it keeps it dry. She claims that the baby powder caused her ovarian cancer and sued Johnson & Johnson for negligence.
But does talcum powder really cause ovarian cancer? According to the American Cancer Society, talcum, in its natural form, contains asbestos which is known to cause cancer, specifically in the lungs, when inhaled. The growing concern among consumers regarding the link between baby powder and cancer stems from this idea.
The organization notes that not all talc powder causes cancer, and it's important to know if the talc powder is asbestos-free or not. Talc powder containing asbestos is accepted to cause cancer but have not been used in the United States since the 1970s. However, as for asbestos-free talc powder, there is still no clear link on its connection to ovarian cancer.
“There is some literature suggesting there may be a connection between genital talcum use and ovarian cancer. It’s not entirely consistent,” said Dr. Clarice Weinberg, deputy branch chief for the biostatistics and computational biology branch at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, via Huffington Post.
Ovarian cancer is a rare but fatal type of cancer that accounts for about 22,000 deaths out of 1.7 million reported cancer cases in the US in 2016. Known causes of ovarian cancer include obesity, estrogen therapy after menopause, age, genetic mutations, inability to conceive a child and history of breast and ovarian cancer in the family.
Meanwhile, despite the jury's verdict, Johnson & Johnson still claims that their baby powder is safe. The company is currently facing 2,000 lawsuits of the same nature and its shares on the stock market has since fell by 0.3 as of Friday.
http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/30916/20161031/jury-baby-powder-causes-ovarian-cancer-johnson-johnson-losing-millions.htm
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Woman Awarded More Than $70 Million in 3rd Lawsuit Linking Baby Powder and Ovarian Cancer
Oct 31, 2016 | The Cut (New York Magazine)
By Susan Rinkunas
Johnson & Johnson’s legal team is not having a great year. For the third time in 2016, a St. Louis jury awarded a multimillion-dollar verdict to a woman who says using Johnson’s Baby Powder for feminine hygiene caused her to develop ovarian cancer.
The plaintiff, Deborah Giannecchini of Modesto, California, said she used the talc-containing powder for more than 45 years to stay dry and was diagnosed with advanced ovarian cancer in 2012. Her lawyers argued the company was aware of studies suggesting a possible risk but failed to inform consumers about the link. The jury awarded her $70.1 million, including $2.5 million in punitive damages from co-defendant and Johnson & Johnson talc supplier Imerys Talc America. In February, a jury awarded $72 million to the family of an Alabama woman who died of ovarian cancer; another case in May awarded $55 million to a South Dakota woman who survived. Imerys was not found liable in either of those cases.Johnson & Johnson is reportedly facing nearly 2,000 lawsuits but the Associated Press reports that a New Jersey judge recently threw out two of them, citing a lack of reliable evidence that the talc in the product causes cancer. A spokeswoman with the company told the AP that science supports the safety of its baby powder and it will appeal all three decisions.
http://nymag.com/thecut/2016/10/johnson-and-johnson-lost-baby-powder-ovarian-cancer-lawsuit.html
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Jury smacks J&J with $67M in talc-powder damages, its third defeat this year
Oct 31, 2016 | Fierce Pharma
By Eric Sagonowsky
Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder damages are adding up. In the third verdict this year to go against the company, jurors in St. Louis ordered J&J to pay about $67.5 million to a woman who argued her ovarian cancer was linked to routine talc use.
Deborah Giannecchini, 62, and her attorneys said that, after four decades of using J&J’s talc powder, the plaintiff developed ovarian cancer that now poses a serious risk to her life, Bloomberg reports. It’s one of about 1,700 lawsuits making claims that J&J didn’t do enough to warn consumers about the risks.
The New Jersey-based drugmaker says it “deeply” sympathizes with those affected by ovarian cancer. It’ll appeal the verdict, though, as it is “guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson’s Baby Powder.”
In its statement, J&J pointed to two cases in New Jersey that were dismissed in September by a judge “who ruled that plaintiffs’ scientific experts could not adequately support their theories." That decision, a spokesperson said, “highlights the lack of credible scientific evidence behind plaintiffs’ allegations.” At the time, the judge said the claims suffered from “multiple deficiencies.”
The ruling in St. Louis--a result of three hours of deliberations--is not the first to go against J&J, however. In February, the company was hit with a $72 million verdict and again in May with $55 million in damages. The most recent verdict was the first to tack J&J’s supplier, Imerys Talc America, with damages. That company will pay $2.5 million following the ruling late last week, according to Bloomberg.
Last month, after a judge dismissed the two cases in New Jersey, J&J pushed to consolidate 18 federal suits there for pretrial work. Among other reasons to head to the state, company attorneys said that a judge there is “most familiar with the issues."
http://www.fiercepharma.com/pharma/j-j-hit-67m-talc-damages-its-third-defeat-year
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US women change talc claim to remove Rio Tinto as defendant
Nov 1, 2016 | Brisbane Times
By Sarah Danckert
The ovarian cancer sufferers who alleged their use of talcum powder sourced from Rio Tinto's talc mines led to their medical condition have dropped their case against the Australian mining giant.
The cancer sufferers, who are based in Louisiana, have instead varied their claim to replace Rio Tinto as a defendant with the French company that purchased Rio's talc operations in 2011, Imerys.
The legal suit against Johnson & Johnson has not been varied and they maintain their claims the talc mined by a Rio Tinto subsidiary and sold to Johnson & Johnson led to their cancer.
The cases have also been transferred from the Louisiana court system to New Jersey where Johnson & Johnson is facing several claims.
"[The cancer sufferer] wishes to substitute Imerys Talc America, Inc, in the place of Luzenac America, Inc and Rio Tinto Minerals, Inc," the lawyers for the women suing Johnson & Johnson said in their respective amended complaints.
Johnson & Johnson has been subject to more than 1000 legal actions since concerns about the links between its talcum powder products, including Johnson's Baby Powder, and ovarian cancer sparked a legal frenzy in the US.
Potential exposure to the product worldwide, including hundreds of thousands of Australians, could lead to further cases.
Imerys has also been named in many of the claims brought against Johnson & Johnson over its talc products.
A spokesman for Rio Tinto welcomed the varied claims.
"Rio Tinto Minerals, which sold its talcum powder business in 2011, was improperly named as a secondary defendant in these cases," a Rio Tinto spokesman said.
Johnson & Johnson is vigorously defending the claims, as is Imerys. Two women in America have already been compensated nearly $200 million combined after a jury found their cancer was caused by talc products.
http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/mining-and-resources/us-women-change-talc-claim-to-remove-rio-tinto-as-defendant-20161101-gsf7ac.html
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