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Cosmetic Talc Litigation Media Coverage November 07, 2016
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After $195 million in talc verdicts, J&J strives to change court
Nov 6, 2016 | Reuters
By Brendan Pierson
After a $67.5 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) on Oct. 27 marked its third straight trial defeat in an onslaught of lawsuits claiming its talc-based products cause ovarian cancer, the company is hoping to reverse the trend by having the cases heard in a different court. -
Does Baby Powder Cause Ovarian Cancer?
Nov 4, 2016 | WebMD
By Karen Pallarito
A spate of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts against consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson is shining a light on a long-simmering scientific question: Can baby powder cause ovarian cancer? -
Woman awarded $70 million after claiming baby powder caused her cancer
Nov 4, 2016 | Cosumnes Connection
By Joanne Flowers
Giannecchini's lawsuit took place in California, but similar cases appeared in St. Louis and New Jersey, where in the latter the judge decided that there was not enough evidence to link talcum powder and ovarian cancer. -
California woman awarded $70 million in Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit
Nov 7, 2016 | Cosumnes Connection
By Joanne Flowers
62-year-old Deborah Giannecchini used J&J's baby powder for feminine hygiene for more than forty years, until her diagnosis three years ago, according to her lawyers.
Client Attorney Privileged/Attorney Work Product/At Request of Counsel
US Coverage
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After $195 million in talc verdicts, J&J strives to change court
Nov 6, 2016 | Reuters
By Brendan Pierson
After a $67.5 million jury verdict against Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) on Oct. 27 marked its third straight trial defeat in an onslaught of lawsuits claiming its talc-based products cause ovarian cancer, the company is hoping to reverse the trend by having the cases heard in a different court.
All three awards, totaling around $195 million, were handed down in state court in St. Louis, Missouri, with the same judge presiding. Women or their families have filed 2,500 similar claims, the vast majority in the same court, which is one of several in the United States that attracts consumer lawsuits.
The plaintiffs claim studies show J&J's Baby Powder and Shower to Shower products, when used in the vaginal area, increase the risk of ovarian cancer. The company counters that larger, more comprehensive studies show no such link.
In a court filing in August, J&J argued the case should be dismissed because plaintiffs’ lawyers tainted the St. Louis jury pool. The company said the other side spent almost $10 million on national and local television commercials in the previous year, with a disproportionate share of them running in St. Louis. The women's lawyers have denied J&J's claim.
The company also contended that, because most of them are not from St. Louis and the New Jersey-based company has no strong ties to the area, the cases should not have been heard there. The judge rejected both arguments.
John Beisner, one of the top lawyers representing J&J, said the company plans to make the same arguments to the Missouri Court of Appeals. If the St. Louis court is found not to have jurisdiction, the cases would have to be refiled elsewhere.
Beisner compared the St. Louis verdicts to a favorable ruling in September from a state court judge in New Jersey. That judge, who is presiding over some 200 talc cases, disqualified the plaintiffs' experts on the grounds that their scientific testimony was too speculative.
In the same decision, he dismissed the first two cases set for trial and the ruling is being appealed.
J&J unsuccessfully tried to block the testimony of the experts in St. Louis on similar grounds. The company will make the same challenge on appeal, Beisner said.
Last week's $70 million verdict followed Missouri jury awards of $72 million in February and $55 million in May.
The first big talc verdict in February was won by the family of Jacqueline Fox, who died in October 2015. Their lawyers said she used J&J Baby Powder and Shower to Shower Powder daily for 35 years for genital hygiene before she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2013.
Jere Beasley, whose firm has filed hundreds of talc cases, including the three Missouri wins and two New Jersey dismissals, said the verdicts should prompt J&J to make a deal.
"If I were representing them, I would say, folks, we need to sit down and regroup and start trying to settle these cases," he said.
LARGE VERDICTS
Large verdicts are relatively common in major product liability cases, and they are often reduced or overturned on appeal. One lawsuit against Merck & Co over its recalled painkiller Vioxx produced a $253 million verdict in 2005, which was thrown out three years later. Merck eventually settled most Vioxx cases for $4.85 billion in 2007.
Shareholders in J&J, which had sales of $70 billion last year, have so far shrugged off the three talc verdicts, the first of the cases to go to trial. But if the trend continues, liability could mount. The company has not reported setting aside any litigation reserve to deal with talc cases, as it has with previous claims over antipsychotic drug Rispardal and recalled hip implants.
J&J no longer sells Shower to Shower, which was acquired by Valeant Pharmaceuticals in 2012. Though not a major seller on its own, Baby Powder is a recognized symbol of J&J’s baby care line, which brought in $2 billion in revenue in 2015.
Some legal experts said it made sense for J&J to fight on.
"Ordinarily I would say three verdicts like that would prompt you to think about settlement," said University of Georgia Law School professor Elizabeth Burch, who researches product liability cases, but she said J&J's case is somewhat different.
A settlement would not necessarily cap J&J's liability, Burch said, because its talc products are still on the market, unlike companies whose products have been recalled.
Howard Erichson, a professor at Fordham School of Law, said the company also had valid concerns about the impact of a settlement on its position in the market.
"This is not Vioxx. This is not asbestos," Erichson said. "This is a case where the company wants to defend its brand, and is not going to be anxious to announce a big settlement that appears to concede that the product is harmful.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Anthony Lin, Amy Stevens and Grant McCool)
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-johnson-johnson-cancer-lawsuit-analys-idUSKBN13114F
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Does Baby Powder Cause Ovarian Cancer?
Nov 4, 2016 | WebMD
By Karen Pallarito
FRIDAY, Nov. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- A spate of multimillion-dollar jury verdicts against consumer products giant Johnson & Johnson is shining a light on a long-simmering scientific question: Can baby powder cause ovarian cancer?
A jury in St. Louis last month seemed to think so. It awarded more than $70 million to a California woman who said she used Johnson's Baby Powder for decades until her ovarian cancer diagnosis.
This follows two other jury verdicts in St. Louis this year with similar awards. Currently, there are roughly 1,700 state and federal lawsuits alleging that Johnson & Johnson failed to warn the public of research linking talc-containing powders to ovarian cancer.
"We deeply sympathize with the women and families impacted by ovarian cancer," Carol Goodrich, a spokeswoman for the company's consumer products unit, said in a statement.
However, Johnson & Johnson maintains that its baby powder is safe and plans to appeal all three decisions, she said.
Goodrich noted that two cases in New Jersey were dismissed in September. A state court judge ruled that the plaintiffs' scientific experts could not adequately support their theories that talcum powder causes ovarian cancer.
So are women who use these products for genital hygiene putting themselves at risk?
Experts in cancer and women's health say if there's an increased risk, it's likely to be very small.
"At best, the data is inconclusive," said Dr. Don Dizon, director of Massachusetts General Hospital's Oncology Sexual Health Clinic.
Prospective studies that follow women before they develop ovarian cancer have found no association between talcum powder and cancer, he said.
Other studies show a slightly increased risk. But these studies relied on women to recall their past use of talcum powder and are subject to bias, Dizon noted.
Dr. Hal Lawrence is chief executive officer of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. He said in a statement: "Several decades of medical research do not support the hypothesis that use of talcum powder causes ovarian cancer."
Obstetrician-gynecologists do not recommend use of douches, vaginal sprays or talcum powder because of concerns about potential discomfort or pain, he added.
Talc is a mineral mined from rock. When ground into a fine powder, it's used to help absorb moisture and reduce friction on the skin's surface.
For decades, many women used talc-containing baby powder in their genital area to stay dry and fresh.
"Way back when, it was more of a hygienic and a comfort measure for women to use," said Dizon.
"But is there a scientific or health-promoting reason that they need to use genital powders? There is none," he said.
More than 20,000 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the United States every year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Plaintiffs' attorneys in the St. Louis cases argued that talc can migrate to the ovaries. This can create an inflammatory response that creates conditions that increase the likelihood of cancer growth, the lawyers contended.
However, cancer researchers said they can't cite any definitive evidence proving a cause-and-effect relationship.
"The only real risk factor for ovarian cancer that everybody agrees on is genetics -- whether they have a family history or whether they have a BRCA1 mutation," said cancer geneticist Dr. Steven Narod, a senior scientist at Women's College Hospital in Toronto.
"If there's a risk with talcum powder, it's very small and hard to measure," he said.
So what should women do?
"Quite frankly, if you're using it and you're worried about it, then don't use it," Dizon said.
http://www.webmd.com/ovarian-cancer/news/20161104/does-baby-powder-cause-ovarian-cancer
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Woman awarded $70 million after claiming baby powder caused her cancer
Nov 4, 2016 | Cosumnes Connection
By Joanne Flowers
Giannecchini's lawsuit took place in California, but similar cases appeared in St. Louis and New Jersey, where in the latter the judge decided that there was not enough evidence to link talcum powder and ovarian cancer.
J&J was ordered to pay $65 million in punitive damages and 90 percent of $3 million in actual damages. Another trial is scheduled for February.
On Oct 28, Deborah Giannecchini, 62, was awarded by jurors US$70 million (SG$97.46 million) after she sued Johnson & Johnson (J&J).
"It's been a long-fought battle", she told NBC News after the trial in St. Louis.
Giannecchini has an 80 percent likelihood of dying in the next two years because of her condition and has undergone radiation, surgery and chemotherapy.
Researchers and major health organisations say talc, which is a mineral that is widely used in cosmetics to absorb moisture, is harmless and Johnson & Johnson insists it's perfectly safe.
It is used in a variety of other products including paint and plastics.
For the third time this month, pharmaceutical conglomerate Johnson & Johnson has been hit with a multimillion-dollar jury verdict over whether the talc in its baby powder causes ovarian cancer.
While there have been numerous studies suggesting a link between talcum products and ovarian cancer, none have made a definitive finding. "However, perineal talc use may modestly increase the risk of invasive serous ovarian cancer". "The risk for any individual woman, if there is one, is probably very small", Ward said.
Two other lawsuits were won in St. Louis earlier this year for a combined amount of $127 million.
In his 33-page opinion, Johnson said the testimony of Dr. Daniel Cramer, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women's Hospital, and Dr. Some talc naturally contains asbestos, which is known to cause lung cancer. It plans to appeal the Thursday verdict.
Prior to the recent litigation, suspicions about the risks of talc were almost unknown outside of the scientific community.
Giannecchini claimed that 46 years of genital use of Johnson & Johnson talc powder is connected to the ovarian cancer diagnosis she received four years ago. "We will appeal today's verdict because we are guided by the science, which supports the safety of Johnson's Baby Powder". Jurors were also shown internal documents indicating that Johnson & Johnson was aware of those studies for decades, yet chose not to include a warning label on its talc products.
About half the punitive damages would go toward the Missouri Crime Victim Compensation Fund, Onder said. This is the first time Imerys has also been held liable.
http://crcconnection.com/2016/11/04/woman-awarded-70-million-after-claiming-baby-powder-caused.html
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California woman awarded $70 million in Johnson & Johnson baby powder lawsuit
Nov 7, 2016 | Cosumnes Connection
By Joanne Flowers
62-year-old Deborah Giannecchini used J&J's baby powder for feminine hygiene for more than forty years, until her diagnosis three years ago, according to her lawyers.
Her claim, which connected her cancer to the 46 years she spent using Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder, accused the company of "negligent conduct" in making and marketing the product, which dominates the talcum powder market.
Most major health groups have declared talcum powder to be harmless, while some research has found no link or only a weak link between ovarian cancer and baby powder.
"It's been a long-fought battle", she told NBC News after the trial in St. Louis.
After deliberating for about 3 hours, jurors ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay $65 million in punitive damages and 90 percent of about $2.5 million for medical costs and pain and suffering while the supplier of talc, Imerys Talc America, was hit with $2.5 million in punitive damages.
Giannecchini, who was diagnosed in November 2012, said she was feeling elated and relieved after the jury pronounced the verdict. Two other suits in St. Louis resulted in jury verdicts totaling $127 million, but two others were thrown out. Johnson and Johnson maintains its product is perfectly safe.
But a judge in New Jersey has already dismissed two talc cases, finding the claims had inadequate scientific support.
Yesterday, the Cancer Association of South Africa (Cansa) said it was fully behind the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) which had classified "talc" as possibly carcinogenic to humans.
The company has denied any link between talcum powder use and risk of ovarian cancer.
"Lord knows, with the amount of powder that's been applied to babies' bottoms, we would've seen something", if talc caused cancer, said Lawrence, vice president of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
One large study published in June that followed 51,000 sisters of breast cancer patients found genital talc users had a reduced risk of ovarian cancer, 27 percent lower than in nonusers. Giannecchini, then 59, said she had used Johnson's Baby Powder for more than 40 years to keep her genital area dry, as many women do. This after 2 lawsuits where juries ruled the manufacturer Johnson and Johnson liable for the women's conditions.
Health and consumer groups have targeted Johnson & Johnson in the past over the ingredients in its products for a possible link with cancer.
http://crcconnection.com/2016/11/06/california-woman-awarded-70-million-in-johnson-johnson-baby.html
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