A US court upheld a verdict that talcum powder sold by Johnson & Johnson caused ovarian cancer and has ordered the pharmaceutical company to pay $2.1 billion in damages.
The decision was made by the Missouri Court of Appeals, but had cut the amount by more than half of the $4.4 billion a jury awarded 22 people back in 2018. The court agreed that there were plaintiffs in the case who should have been excluded since they were from outside the state, according to CTV News.
The Tuesday decision was upheld in suggesting that the company was "knowingly selling products that contained asbestos to consumers."
"Because defendants are large, multi-billion-dollar corporations, we believe a large amount of punitive damages is necessary to have an effect in this case," the judgement noted.
"It is impossible to place monetary value on the physical, mental and emotional anguish plaintiffs suffered because of their injury caused by defendants."
A spokeswoman for the pharmaceutical giant said the company would be appealing the decision in the Supreme Court of Missouri, according to reports.
Johnson & Johnson has faced a substantial number of lawsuits in the US, accusing the company of failing to warn consumers of the risk of serious illness from the asbestos in its talc-based products.
A California jury in 2019 awarded millions in damages to a woman who asserted the company's baby powder was responsible in her becoming ill with terminal cancer.
The company announced last month that it would discontinue its talc-based products within the US and Canada, partially due to the "constant barrage of litigation advertising" over the product.
It added that the selling of the product to the rest of the world will continue.
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