Bayer has been handed a major win by the US Supreme Court in a long running sage concerning the pesticide product Roundup.

Roundup, which was originally manufactured by Monsanto before that company was bought by German-based Bayer, contains glyphosate, which is claimed by some to cause cancer.

This has resulted in numerous court cases taken against Bayer in courts across the US, with cancer sufferers suing the company for damages.

Bayer has already been ordered to hand over billions of dollars in compensation across different cases, while some other judgements were in the company's favour.

Now, the US Supreme Court had handed down a judgement which could render many of the ongoing claims against Bayer moot.

In a complex case, the court effectively ruled that Roundup does need to have a warning label for cancer, as its approval for use was already cleared by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) based on national legislation, which the majority of judges on the court argued supersedes labelling requirements in individual states.

Of the nine Supreme Court judges, seven of them backed this opinion while two dissented. Of the two dissenting judges, one was appointed by Joe Biden while he was US president and the other by Donald Trump during his first term as president.

The dissenting judges wrote that, on a number of occasions, the EPA allowed companies to add cancer risk warnings to their products to comply with state laws, even for products that the EPA approved; and that among those companies was a subsidiary of Bayer itself.

Reacting to the judgement of the majority of the court, Bayer said: "This decision, which reflects strong support across the ideological spectrum of the court, helps to bring significant containment to the Roundup litigation.

"Glyphosate remains the most studied crop protection tool in the world and this decision affirms that the EPA’s safety determination is the law of the land, ensuring that companies cannot be punished under a patchwork of state...laws for complying with federal labelling requirements," the company added.

Bayer CEO Bill Anderson claimed the decision "is good for the American farmers who help feed the world".

"It provides the regulatory clarity necessary for innovators like us to develop the agricultural tools that guarantee an affordable food supply," Anderson added.

"The decision brings overdue justice on an issue that should have been clarified much earlier. It’s time to put it behind us," the Bayer CEO said.

Anderson said the company will continue its "multi-pronged containment strategy" to deal with other lawsuits.

This strategy includes a "nationwide" settlement of $7.2 billion, announced in February, to resolve current and future claims alleging cancer injuries from Roundup.

Bayer said the new finding from the Supreme Court "should result" in the dismissal of ongoing claims based on 'failure-to-warn' arguements against Roundup, which the company said "make up the vast majority of claims in the litigation to date".