Johnson & Johnson's (J&J) endeavor to reach an $8.9 billion settlement and seek bankruptcy protection for talc-related lawsuits has been denied for the second time, as of July 30, 2023. The decision came from Judge Michael Kaplan of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New Jersey, who ruled that the company's financial situation was not critically dire, as reported by the New York Times . The rejection prompts J&J to challenge the verdict robustly, vowing to counter the lawsuits that they deem lacking in scientific basis, according to Reuters . In response to the wave of legal actions alleging that J&J's talc-infused baby powder contained cancer-causing asbestos, the corporation established a subsidiary called LTL Management in 2021. The subsidiary filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a move contested by J&J, leading to a series of legal maneuvers. The initial appeal was turned down in March 2023, with AboutLawsuits.com noting that the parent company had
Recent Findings in JAMA Network Open Suggest Potential Benefits of Comprehensive Germline Genetic Testing for Mesothelioma Patients. While asbestos exposure remains a primary risk factor for mesothelioma, a segment of patients also carry harmful genetic variations that amplify susceptibility to solid tumors. Researchers, led by a team from the University of Chicago, investigated 161 mesothelioma patients who underwent both tumor-specific and germline next-generation sequencing. Results indicated that 16% of patients bore pathogenic or potentially pathogenic genetic variations, predominantly within a gene associated with hereditary cancer syndromes. These genetic alterations were detected at a similar frequency to other tumor types like metastatic prostate cancer, epithelial ovarian cancer, and exocrine pancreatic cancer, all of which recommend universal germline genetic testing. Given the comparable prevalence of P/LP germline variants in mesothelioma patients to other cancers where