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On the day that opening statements were set to begin, Bayer AG agreed to postpone a high-profile trial in the United States over Monsanto Co.'s Roundup herbicide as it hammers out a possible global settlement of thousands of cases.

"The continuance is intended to provide room for the parties to continue the mediation process in good faith under the auspices of Ken Feinberg, and avoid the distractions that can arise from trials," said Bayer in a statement, released minutes before opening statements in the Missouri case were set to start. "While Bayer is constructively engaged in the mediation process, there is no comprehensive agreement at this time. There also is no certainty or timetable for a comprehensive resolution."

The postponement comes as Bayer is in talks to settle some of the 42,700 lawsuits brought across the U.S. alleging that Roundup caused non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which is cancer in the lymph nodes. Judges in other lawsuits have postponed trials originally scheduled this month, and Bloomberg reported this week that Bayer was considering a global settlement of about $10 billion.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria of the Northern District of California, who is overseeing about 2,700 lawsuits in multidistrict litigation in federal court in San Francisco, appointed Feinberg to mediate the talks.

Chhabria also has scheduled the second bellwether trial in the multidistrict litigation for Feb. 24 in San Francisco. In that case, Elaine Stevick alleges she used Roundup in her garden until 2014, when she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Her husband, Christopher Stevick, is bringing claims for loss of consortium.

The first bellwether trial ended in an $80 million verdict last year. Juries in separate state courts in Northern California also have awarded verdicts of $289 million and $2 billion in two other cases.

Bayer has appealed all the jury awards.

Michael Miller, of The Miller Firm in Orange, Virginia, who was lead counsel in the Missouri trial and whose firm is handling the federal bellwether case, did not respond to a request for comment.

Unlike the prior California trials, the case in St. Louis City Circuit Court involved four plaintiffs: Christopher Wade, Glen Ashelman, Bryce Batiste and Ann Meeks. Wade, Ashelman and Batiste claimed Roundup caused their non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, while Meeks is the widow of a man who died last year from the disease.

A consolidated trial upped the chances of a large verdict. In 2018, a St. Louis jury awarded $4.7 billion to 22 women alleging Johnson & Johnson's baby powder caused them to get ovarian cancer.