US Court decided Bayer has to pay USD 2 billion in award in Roundup cancer trial

A California jury on Monday awarded more than USD2 billion to a couple who claimed Bayer AG’s glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer caused their cancer, in the largest U.S. jury verdict to date against the company in litigation over the chemical, Reuters informs.

"It was the third consecutive U.S. jury verdict against the company in litigation over the chemical, which Bayer acquired as part of its USD 63 billion purchase of Monsanto last year. Both other jury verdicts also came in California, one in state court and one in federal court," the message reads.

Bayer in a statement on Monday said it was disappointed with the verdict and will appeal. A spokesman called the jury’s decision “excessive and unjustifiable.”

In early June 2018, Bayer completed the acquisition of Monsanto.

Note: the German chemicals giant faces more than 13,400 U.S. lawsuits over the herbicide’s alleged cancer risk.

Lawsuits are largely based on a 2015 conclusion by the World Health Organization’s cancer arm, which classified glyphosate as “probably carcinogenic to humans.”