NEW YORK, April 18 (Reuters) - A Florida jury on

Thursday concluded that Johnson & Johnson's ( JNJ ) baby powder

talc product did not cause the ovarian cancer of a Florida woman

who died in 2019.

The lawsuit was brought by family members of Patricia

Matthey, a Sarasota County resident who used Johnson's baby

powder daily from 1965 until August 2016, when she was diagnosed

with ovarian cancer, according to her family's lawsuit.

J&J's Worldwide Vice President of Litigation Erik Haas said

the company was vindicated by the jury's decision.

"Consistent with decades of scientific research, the jury

appropriately found that talc is safe, does not contain asbestos

and does not cause cancer, which is the same outcome the company

achieved in 16 of 17 ovarian cases tried to date," Haas said.

Leigh O'Dell, an attorney for the Matthey family, said she

respects the jury's decision, but will remain "undeterred" in

future cases against J&J.

"The science supports the association between genital talc

use and ovarian cancer, and we will continue to seek justice for

the victims of J&J's neglect and indifference," O'Dell said.

Before her death, Matthey testified that advertisements for

baby powder made her think that she was "dirty and smelly" and

that she "needed Johnson's baby powder to be a good clean

person," according to evidence presented by her family's

attorney Lance Oliver during the trial.

The Matthey family alleged that J&J knew for decades that

the talc it mined for use in baby powder could be contaminated

with carcinogenic asbestos fibers. J&J suppressed scientific

evidence linking talc products to increased cancer risk,

according to the complaint.

J&J argued that there was no "conspiracy" to suppress

research. Instead, the scientific evidence simply does not

support the Matthey family's claims that its talc products cause

cancer, according to J&J.

"This is fundamentally a case about science," J&J's attorney

Morty Dubin said during opening statements in the trial.

J&J faces more than 50,000 lawsuits over talc, most by women

with ovarian cancer, with a minority of the cases involving

people with mesothelioma. Asbestos exposure is a known cause of

mesothelioma.

J&J has attempted to reach a comprehensive settlement of the

talc litigation through bankruptcy, but courts have rejected its

two previous attempts.

Haas has said that the company is considering a third

bankruptcy filing, and is trying to build more support for a

bankruptcy settlement among the plaintiffs that have sued the

company.

Haas said on Thursday that J&J will "continue to defend the

meritless talc claims in the tort system," while those

negotiations continue.

J&J's bankruptcy strategy put the talc litigation on hold

from 2021 to 2023, but trials have resumed after the latest

bankruptcy case was dismissed.

Trials in the talc cases have had a mixed record, with major

plaintiff wins including a $2.1 billion judgment in 2021 awarded

to 22 women with ovarian cancer.

A New Jersey appeals court in October threw out a $223.7

million verdict against the company, finding the testimony of

the plaintiffs' expert witnesses unsound. The most recent case

to go to trial ended in a hung jury on March 5.

J&J has recently settled some cases involving plaintiffs

with mesothelioma, but the company has not provided details

about the dollar amounts involved or said how many people they

covered.