[Trailer] $6.5-Billion ‘Baby Powder-Cancer’ Settlement Proposal Pushed Forward by Johnson and Johnson | Facts Matter

Headquartered in New Jersey, Johnson and Johnson is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. It’s also one of the handful of companies that made a windfall during the pandemic with their vaccine. In fact, the Janssen shot was making the company upwards of $740 million dollars per quarter—that was, of course, before the shot was pulled off the market due to an elevated risk of serious blood clots in vaccine recipients. However, having their vaccine pulled off the market might be the least of Johnson and Johnson’s financial worries. That’s because just yesterday, the company announced a willingness to pay $6.5 billion dollars in order to settle nearly all of the lawsuits in America claiming that their baby powder (and talcum powder products) caused people to develop cancer. Once enacted, this settlement will be the 4th largest in US history, right behind the $7.2 billion dollars that Enron had to pay after defrauding their shareholders. However, aside from the magnitude of the dollar amount itself, the story of how this $6.5-billion settlement came to be—as well as the legal maneuvering that Johnson and Johnson has been doing behind the scenes to try and shield themselves from lawsuits—is fascinating to say the least. Let’s go through it together.