ST. LOUIS — Bayer reportedly has reached verbal agreements to settle 50,000 to 85,000 of the 125,000 cancer lawsuits pending over use of Monsanto Co.'s Roundup weed killer.
The deals are part of a $10 billion plan to end the Roundup lawsuits the German pharmaceuticals company inherited when it bought St. Louis-based Monsanto for $63 billion in 2018, Bloomberg reported Sunday.
$8 billion would cover current lawsuits, and $2 billion would be reserved for future claims from people who have used Roundup but may not have developed cancer yet.
Bayer is likely to announce the settlements in June and involved some of the strongest claims against the company, people familiar with the negotiations told Bloomberg.
Bayer spokesman Chris Loder said in an email to the Business Journal: “We’ve made progress in the Roundup mediation discussions under the auspices of Ken Feinberg, but in keeping with the confidentiality of this process, the company will not speculate about settlement outcomes or timing. As we have said previously, the company will consider a resolution if it is financially reasonable and provides a process to resolve potential future litigation.”
Feinberg, an attorney based in Washington, D.C., is the court-appointed mediator who has been in negotiations for months to reach an agreement.
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