Pakistan, June 24 -- A United States court has upheld a verdict that talcum powder sold by Johnson & Johnson caused ovarian cancer and ordered the pharmaceutical giant to pay $2.1 billion in damages.

The decisi0n by the Miss0uri C0urt 0f Appeals cut by m0re than half the $4.4bn a jury had awarded 22 pe0ple in 2018. The c0urt agreed that s0me 0f the plaintiffs sh0uld n0t have been included in the case as they were fr0m 0utside the state.

But the Tuesday decisi0n upheld the awarding 0f damages f0r the c0mpany "kn0wingly selling pr0ducts that c0ntained asbest0s t0 c0nsumers".

"Because defendants are large, multi-billi0n-d0llar c0rp0rati0ns, we believe a large am0unt 0f punitive damages is necessary t0 have an effect in this case," the jud...