American pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay out $4.69 billion (£3.57 billion) in damages in a lawsuit representing 22 women and their families who alleged a talc sold by the company contained asbestos and caused them to suffer cancer.

J&J is battling another 9,000 cases. The company, which has successfully overturned previous cases, denies its talc products contain asbestos that caused ovarian cancer and plans to appeal the case.”Johnson & Johnson is deeply disappointed in the verdict, which was the product of a fundamentally unfair process,” it said in a statement.

“Every verdict against Johnson & Johnson in this court that has gone through the appeals process has been reversed and the multiple errors present in this trial were worse than those in the prior trials which have been reversed.”

The company claims decades of studies, including one by the US Food and Drug Administration, found its talc-based products, including J&J’s Baby Powder, to be safe.

The women and their families allege J&J knew its talc contained asbestos since the 1970s.

“For over 40 years, Johnson & Johnson has covered up the evidence of asbestos in their products,” the plaintiffs’ lawyer Mark Lanier said in a statement.

“We hope this verdict will get the attention of the J&J board and that it will lead them to better inform the medical community and the public about the connection between asbestos, talc, and ovarian cancer,” he said.

(source: Sky News)