Johnson & Johnson Pays $5.5B Over Baby Powder Cancer Claims; Wall Street Rewards It Anyway

Roughly 70,000 people are represented in the federal proceedings alone, not including state courts. (Credit: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. IBTimes UK)

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to pay an estimated $5.5B (£4.1B) to resolve about 76,000 claims from women who say its talc powders left them with ovarian cancer. Despite the hefty payout, the stock reached $270 on Tuesday, an all-time high. That values the company at roughly $641B (£482B).

Terms went to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on 27 July. The company has fought talc litigation for more than a decade and still says its product was safe.