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A Missouri jury awarded $5.4 million to a 62-year old woman suffering from ovarian cancer after concluding that Johnson & Johnson’s talc powder caused her cancer. The woman argued that J&J turned a blind eye to studies linking its baby powder and Shower to Shower talc products to ovarian cancer and failed to alert customers of these risks — all to protect profits and “the company’s image.” An internal document introduced at trial revealed that the company knew its products increased the risk of this “highly lethal form of cancer” but nevertheless ignored recommendations to warn women.

Thousands of women with ovarian cancer have challenged the health-care giant in lawsuits across the country. At trial, J&J’s lawyers argued that J&J doesn’t need to warn women about talc because there is no link to cancer. According to one juror, “I felt that J&J was withholding information about its products that was vital to women – vital to women like me.” The jury awarded $5.4 million in compensatory damages and an additional $105 million in punitive damages.