Johnson & Johnson agrees to pay $700M to settle baby powder probe, WSJ reports

Johnson & Johnson CFO Joseph Wolk said in an interview on Tuesday that the company has reached an agreement in principle to pay about $700M to settle a probe brought by more than 40 U.S. states into the marketing of its talcum-based baby powder, The Wall Street Journal’s Peter Loftus and Jennifer Calfas reports. The preliminary agreement is an “important step” as the company tries to put the matter behind it, the CFO said. The proposed settlement would only address a small portion of the litigation over the safety and marketing of J&J’s talcum powders, and would not resolve any personal injury lawsuits filed by more than 52,000 plaintiffs in various U.S. courts against J&J, alleging that use of the powders, primarily Johnson’s Baby Powder, caused cancer.