The proposed settlement would resolve around 76,000 cases, covering most of the remaining talc-related claims against the US healthcare company. J&J said it expects to pay up to $3bn next year, with no further payments due before 2028.

The agreement must still be approved by legal firms representing 95 per cent of the ovarian cancer claims in state and federal courts before it can be finalised.

J&J has consistently denied that its talc products cause cancer and maintains they are safe.

Erik Haas, the company’s vice-president of litigation, described the claims as “meritless” and said the settlement was intended to bring the long-running litigation to an end.

He said the company remained confident it would have “ultimately prevailed with further litigation” and had already succeeded in the majority of cases that had gone to trial.

Mr Haas added that the proposed agreement “allows the company to put this matter behind it” and enables J&J to “remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives”.

The lawsuits, first filed in 2009, allege that J&J’s talc products were contaminated with asbestos, a known carcinogen, and that this caused users to develop ovarian cancer. Talc and asbestos can occur in neighbouring mineral deposits.

J&J has repeatedly rejected those allegations, saying: “Studies show talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.”

Earlier this month, the company secured a significant legal victory when a US federal court questioned whether individual claimants could prove that talc directly caused their ovarian cancer.

J&J stopped selling talc-based baby powder in the US in 2020 and discontinued the product worldwide in 2022, replacing it with a cornstarch-based formulation.

Liability for Johnson’s baby powder outside North America now rests with Kenvue, the former consumer health division that was spun off from J&J in 2022.

The proposed deal has been welcomed by the lawyer who represents claimants in England and Wales.

Tom Longstaff, partner at KP Law, who is leading the group action in England and Wales said: “For the claimants, I think the proposed deal is good news. It provides some measure of finality to those who have suffered, and their dependents, with substantial compensation.

“This deal does not affect the claims being pursued in England and Wales, Scotland or in other jurisdictions around the world, those claims will continue. I can’t predict what Johnson & Johnson are going to do in future; my job is to represent the interests of claimants here and achieve justice as quickly as possible. If that means taking the case to trial, which starts in early 2028, that is what we will do.”