Bayer plans $10.5 billion settlement to address Roundup cancer cases

(Bloomberg) — Bayer AG is set to announce a $10.5 billion settlement move to resolve current and future cancer lawsuits related to its best-selling Roundup weedkiller, according to people familiar with the plan.

The German conglomerate will offer a $7.5 billion class-action settlement through lawsuits designed to resolve Roundup lawsuits already filed in state court in Missouri and potential claims that could be filed over a 20-year period, according to the people who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the settlement.

As part of that effort, Bayer is also set to announce $3 billion settlements of current U.S. cases in which former Roundup users blamed the herbicide for causing their non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, sources said.

Last week’s lawsuits have plagued the German conglomerate since it acquired Monsanto for $66 billion and inherited a string of lawsuits that cast a persistent cloud over its shares. The company has already paid more than $10 billion in fines and settlements related to the herbicide and its active ingredient, glyphosate.

After years of fighting Roundup cases in the U.S., Bayer still faces nearly 67,000 plaintiffs who claim long-term exposure to glyphosate causes cancer. Bayer officials insisted the weed killer was safe and pointed out that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found the herbicide was not carcinogenic.

Bayer is taking the action after the U.S. Supreme Court agreed last month to hear the company’s appeal of a $1.25 million Missouri jury verdict against its Monsanto unit for Roundup on the grounds that some claims in the 2023 lawsuit were barred by federal law.

The lawsuit has placed such a burden on Bayer that Chief Executive Bill Anderson said he was weighing whether to abandon glyphosate production altogether.

Bayer officials in the U.S. did not immediately respond to an email Tuesday seeking comment on the reconciliation efforts.