Johnson & Johnson halts global sales of baby powder – 08/12/2022 at 14:36


(AOF) – Johnson & Johnson has announced that it will stop selling talc-based baby powder in 2023 worldwide. This decision is taken more than two years after the cessation of sales of this product in the United States and Canada, being the subject of thousands of lawsuits for breach of consumer safety.

The company faces approximately 38,000 lawsuits from consumers who claim talc products have caused cancer due to contamination with asbestos, a known carcinogen.

“We have made the business decision to transition to an entirely cornstarch-based baby powder portfolio,” the manufacturer said, adding that the cornstarch-based baby powder is already sold in several countries. of the world. This means that the sale of talc-based powder will be stopped, but that based on cornstarch remains on sale.

As a reminder, the American laboratory unveiled quarterly results that exceeded expectations, even if the rise in the US dollar against other currencies affected its sales and annual forecasts. For the second quarter alone, Johnson & Johnson’s net profit fell 23% to $4.8 billion. On a per share basis and excluding exceptional items, earnings were $2.59, slightly above analysts’ expectations.

From April to June, the group generated a turnover of 24 billion US dollars, which represents an increase of 3% and comes out above analysts’ forecasts.

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An inevitable race for new blockbusters

The patent for Merck’s star product, the cancer drug Keytruda, which accounts for more than 35% of its sales, expires in 2028. Despite the loss, since 2019, of the patents for its three star products (Avastin, Herceptine, Rituxan) Roche was able to renew its portfolio by bringing new molecules to market. However, the discovery and launch of new drugs are increasingly expensive. AstraZeneca spends about $6 billion a year on R&D in a pharmaceutical industry where the life of a patent only lasts ten to fifteen years. This leads laboratories to withdraw from certain activities. Thus J&J, Pfizer, GSK and, no doubt, Novartis soon prefer to refocus on specialty drugs and abandon any ancillary activity.



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