Mining giant Rio Tinto has been dismissed from court cases in the US, where it had been named in a legal battle relating to claims Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder caused ovarian cancer.
The company's name has been removed from five separate lawsuits launched by women or relatives of women who developed ovarian cancer after using the powder, court papers filed in the Louisiana District Court show.
"Rio Tinto Minerals, which sold its talcum powder business in 2011, was improperly named as a secondary defendant in these cases," a Rio Tinto spokesman said on Monday.
"Rio Tinto has been previously been dismissed from similar cases in the United States."
The five cases are among 1,700 lawsuits launched in state and federal courts in the US, that have accused Johnson & Johnson of ignoring studies linking its baby powder and Shower-to-Shower talc products to ovarian cancer - and of failing to warn customers about the risk.
Earlier this month, a St. Louis court awarded more than $US70 million ($A92 million) to a California woman in a related trial. J&J had already been ordered to pay a total of $US127 million to two ovarian cancer sufferers in separate legal cases, earlier this year.
Rio had been dragged into the legal fight because its former subsidiary, Luzenac America, mined the talc used as the main ingredient in Johnson & Johnson products.
Rio Tinto Minerals was previously dismissed in two other talc lawsuits - in 2010 and May 2016, and has not been named in the other ongoing cases so far.
It sold Luzenac to French group Inmerys in 2011.
The lawsuits have sparked calls for Australian women to reconsider using talcum powder.
Health experts say, while there is no definitive evidence of talc causing ovarian cancer, women who are concerned about its possible risks should avoid it.
