Johnson & Johnson ‘knew for decades’ asbestos was in Baby Powder
While J&J has dominated the talc powder market for more than 100 years the products contributed to a mere 0.5% of its revenue of $76.5bn last year. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
By Democrat reporter
Shares of Johnson & Johnson tumbled 12 per cent on Friday and were on track to post their biggest percentage drop in more than 16 years after Reuters reported that the pharma major knew for decades that cancer-causing asbestos lurked in its Baby Powder.
The decline in shares erased about $47 billion (€41.6bn) from the company’s market capitalisation, with investors worrying about the fallout of the report as it faces thousands of talc-related lawsuits, according to a report in The Irish Times.
“It is not surprising that an article from Reuters outlining years of potential knowledge regarding the perils of talc should agitate investors,” said BMO Capital Markets analyst Joanne Wuensch. “This is not a simple matter as there are more than 10,000 pending cases.”
