German biotech heavyweight Bayer AG has proposed a sweeping Bayer $7.25 billion settlement to bring finality to years of U.S. litigation over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.

The proposal marks the company’s latest — and largest — effort to close the chapter on legal battles that have trailed it since its $63 billion acquisition of Monsanto eight years ago. Roundup, Monsanto’s flagship herbicide, has been at the center of mounting jury verdicts and mounting payouts.

A Push for Closure

Bayer has already paid roughly $10 billion to resolve Roundup-related lawsuits. The newly proposed $7.25 billion agreement would address both existing and future claims tied to non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a form of blood cancer.

Chief Executive Bill Anderson said the settlement is designed to secure long-sought certainty.

“This doesn’t work unless there is closure,” Anderson said, adding that he expects the vast majority of individuals with pending claims to participate in the proposed resolution.

The deal has backing from several key plaintiffs’ groups but must receive judicial approval before taking effect.

Who Qualifies

Under the proposal, individuals who were exposed to Roundup before Feb. 17 of this year and were diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma within 16 years of exposure would be eligible for compensation.

Unlike a 2020 settlement, which addressed then-existing claims, this agreement would also encompass future cases arising from the same illness — an acknowledgment of the disease’s long latency period.

Bayer said payments would be distributed over 21 years, with the majority of funds expected to be paid within the first five years.

The Science and the Dispute

Roundup was developed in the 1970s, with glyphosate as its active ingredient. In 2015, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, classified glyphosate as a probable human carcinogen.

Bayer, along with regulators including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, has challenged that assessment and maintains that Roundup is safe when used as directed.

Yet juries in multiple states have sided with plaintiffs, awarding billions in damages. Bayer said it has resolved more than 130,000 claims so far but still faces approximately 65,000 pending cases, with the possibility of additional filings in the years ahead.

Additional Costs and Supreme Court Stakes

Beyond the proposed $7.25 billion deal, Bayer expects to pay another $3 billion in separate Roundup-related matters, including claims brought by several U.S. states involving allegations connected to so-called “forever chemicals.”

The settlement proposal comes as Bayer seeks a favorable ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court in a separate but related case. That dispute centers on whether federal regulatory approval of Roundup preempts stricter state-level labeling requirements.

During a question-and-answer session about the settlement, Anderson declined to speculate on whether the agreement would proceed if Bayer were to lose before the high court.

Late last year, the Trump administration filed a brief supporting Bayer’s position — a move that buoyed the company’s share price as investors interpreted it as improving the firm’s legal prospects.

For Bayer, the stakes are existential as much as financial. The company is attempting to draw a definitive line under a legal saga that has lingered like a shadow over its balance sheet and reputation — a battle not only over billions of dollars, but over science, regulation and corporate responsibility.