Johnson & Johnson gets a new opportunity to contest science in talc litigation

2024-03-28

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Johnson & Johnson gets a new opportunity to contest science in talc litigation

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来源: FiercePharma

Citing new evidence and recent changes to a law governing expert testimony, a U.S. judge will allow Johnson & Johnson to contest previous scientific findings surrounding more than 50,000 lawsuits that claim the company's talc products caused cancer.

Johnson & Johnson will get a do-over in its defense against more than 50,000 lawsuits that claim the company’s iconic baby powder can cause ovarian cancer. A New Jersey court ruled on Wednesday that J&J can contest the scientific findings that back those cases.

In a text order, federal District Judge Michael Shipp determined that a new hearing is necessary, citing new “relevant science” and recent updates to the Federal Rule of Evidence 702, which gives judges more power to discredit flawed expert testimony.

The ruling brings into question a 2019 order from Shipp’s predecessor, Chief District Judge Freda Wolfson, which gave a major boost to the plaintiffs. The order allowed five of their experts to testify in bellwether trials, which have been delayed by two failed talc bankruptcy attempts by J&J and have yet to be scheduled.

Shipp took over the consolidated, multidistrict litigation when Wolfson retired in February 2023 after overseeing the case since 2016.

Shipp ordered motions to be filed by July 23, with opposition due Aug. 22.

In a statement, J&J called previous evidence allowed in the case “junk science.”

“The appellate courts of this and other states have recently and repeatedly rejected as flawed and fabricated the opinions of the purported ‘experts’ bought and paid for by the plaintiffs bar and the evidence recently revealed has shown the opinions were deliberately designed to defame and deceive,” Erik Haas, J&J’s head of litigation, said in a statement.

For a decade, the company has maintained that its talc products—which were taken off the market worldwide in 2022—do not cause cancer. J&J has replaced its baby powder with a cornstarch version.

Leigh O’Dell of Beasley Allen and Michelle Parfitt of Ashcraft Gerel, the co-lead counsel for the plaintiffs’ steering committee, said in a statement that the science “is stronger than ever” showing the dangers of Johnson’s Baby Powder.

“The truth of J&J’s deceptive conduct to hide the presence of carcinogens in talcum powder and mislead the medical and scientific communities has only become clearer over time,” they said, adding that the experts' “conclusions were confirmed by regulatory agencies such as Health Canada and the International Agency for the Research on Cancer.”

Eight months ago, J&J filed two lawsuits against four doctors who have testified in court, claiming that the company’s talc products have caused mesothelioma.

While J&J has contested the consolidated federal litigation, it also has battled individual cases brought in state courts. Earlier this month, a suit in Florida ended in a mistrial when the jury could not come to an agreement on a decision.

J&J has prevailed more often than not in its talc cases, though, in 2021, the Supreme Court rejected its appeal of a $2.11 billion verdict in a case brought by 22 women from 12 states.

In December 2023, J&J prepared for a third bankruptcy attempt by filing for a relocation of its talc litigation subsidiary, LTL Management, from New Jersey to Texas. The previous Chapter 11 attempts failed when settlement offers from J&J were rejected.

J&J hopes for a result similar to a December 2022 ruling that freed Sanofi, GSK and Boehringer Ingelheim of more than 50,000 lawsuits in a federal multidistrict case against their heartburn drug Zantac. That ruling in Florida overturned previous scientific findings.

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