Experts can testify on suspected J&J talc products' cancer link, special master says

In a victory for thousands of women suing Johnson & Johnson JNJ.N over claims that the company's baby powder and other talc products caused their ovarian cancer, a court-appointed special master recommended on Tuesday that they be allowed to present testimony at trial from experts who support that link.

The recommendation from retired U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson, in long-running litigation that includes more than 67,500 lawsuits in the federal court in New Jersey, allows the cases to move towards the first trial in federal court potentially later this year.

Product liability lawsuits, such as the J&J cases, rely on experts to establish that the product is capable of causing the alleged harm. Decisions on expert testimony can sometimes be a major turning point in these cases.

U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton, New Jersey, who is overseeing the litigation, brought in Wolfson to help evaluate what expert testimony should be allowed at trial, based on whether it meets the scientific standards set out in federal law.

A key determination by Wolfson in her 658-page decision was that the plaintiffs' experts should be allowed to testify there is a causal link between using J&J talc products and cancer, which the company disputes.

"I find, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the Plaintiffs’ experts have applied reliable methodologies to arrive at their opinions that the pre- and post-2020 epidemiologic studies, taken as a whole, demonstrate a positive, statistically significant association between genital talc powder use and ovarian cancer," Wolfson wrote.

Wolfson agreed with J&J, however, that expert testimony linking heavy metals and fragrance chemicals in the company's products to cancer should be excluded.

She declined to rule on some requests to exclude various testimony, pending hearings later this month and in early February.

J&J did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Chris Tisi, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said Wolfson's report showed the plaintiffs' case was "based on sound evidence that Johnson's Baby Powder can cause ovarian cancer. We are grateful that, after all of J&J's delays, these women and their families will finally have their day in court."

Shares of J&J fell 0.4% in after-hours trading.

J&J has been fighting claims over its talc products in both federal and state court for years, andhas said its products are safe and do not cause cancer.

The company stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the U.S. in 2020 and switched to a cornstarch product.

JUDGE WANTED SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE REEVALUATED

It is the second time Wolfson has reviewed the scientific evidence in the case, as she oversaw the so-called multidistrict litigation from its creation in 2016 to her retirement in 2023, when the case was reassigned to Shipp.

Wolfson had sided with the plaintiffs in 2020, saying that their experts would be allowed to testify that the products' link to cancer could be caused by the talc’s contamination with asbestos. J&J has said its products do not contain asbestos.

In 2024, Shipp said he wanted the scientific evidence reevaluated because of two factors: recent changes to federal rules governing expert testimony, which strengthen the courts' role in vetting experts' methodology and conclusions before allowing them to testify - and the emergence of new scientific evidence.

J&J had sought to resolve the litigation through bankruptcy, a tactic that was rejected three times by federal courts, most recently in April 2025. The bankruptcies had put most of the talc product cases on hold for years.

The company also sued scientists whose research and testimony was used to support plaintiffs' cases as part of its strategy to fight the claims, accusing them of falsifying their results by including people who were likely exposed to asbestos through other means. One of those lawsuits is still pending, while the other has been dismissed.

Before the bankruptcy attempts, J&J had a mixed record in state courts.

Some cases had already gone to trial, with verdicts as high as $4.69 billion awarded to 22 women who said baby powder caused their ovarian cancer. J&J has had the verdict in that case and some others reduced on appeal and won some trials outright.

Separately, J&J has also faced cases alleging its talc products caused a rare and deadly cancer called mesothelioma. The company has settled some of those claims but has not struck a nationwide settlement, so many lawsuits over mesothelioma have proceeded to trial in state courts in recent months.

In the past year, J&J has been hit with several substantial verdicts in mesothelioma cases, including one for more than $1.5 billion in Baltimore in December.

-Diana Novak Jones/Reuters