By Tiffany Hsu and Roni Caryn Rabin for The New York Times
October 18, 2019, 10:38 AM ET

Johnson & Johnson is recalling a shipment of baby powder after the Food and Drug Administration discovered evidence of asbestos, the company said on Friday, after months spent denying the presence of the carcinogen in its talc-based products.

In a test, the regulator found trace levels of chrysotile asbestos in samples from a bottle of baby powder purchased from an online retailer, Johnson & Johnson said.

Continue reading “NYT: Johnson & Johnson Recalls Asbestos-Tainted Baby Powder” →

By Jef Feeley for Bloomberg
October 18, 2019, 4:00 AM CDT

Mark Lanier used a block of cheese and a hay bale as props in a St. Louis courtroom last year to make his case that Johnson & Johnson baby powder causes cancer. It worked. Jurors ordered J&J to pay $4.7 billion in damages.

The verdict was the third multibillion-dollar award for Lanier, the Texas-based lawyer now leading the attack for two Ohio counties against a group of drug companies, including McKesson Corp. and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Inc., in the first federal trial of more than 2,000 state and local government lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic. Opening arguments start Monday.

Continue reading “Billion-Dollar J&J Verdict Winner Now Leads Charge in Opioids Suit” →