Paxton sues pharmaceutical companies for 'deceptively marketing Tylenol to pregnant mothers'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Tuesday announced that his office has filed a lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies for "deceptively marketing Tylenol to pregnant mothers."

The lawsuit was filed Monday against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue for marketing the drug to pregnant mothers "despite knowing that early exposure to acetaminophen, Tylenol’s only active ingredient, leads to a significantly increased risk of autism and other disorders," Paxton's office said Tuesday.

“Big Pharma betrayed America by profiting off of pain and pushing pills regardless of the risks. These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” Paxton said in a statement.

“Additionally, seeing that the day of reckoning was coming, Johnson & Johnson attempted to escape responsibility by illegally offloading their liability onto a different company. By holding Big Pharma accountable for poisoning our people, we will help Make America Healthy Again,” he continued.

Paxton's office said that Johnson & Johnson, for decades, "willfully ignored and attempted to silence the science that prenatal and early-childhood exposure to their acetaminophen products can cause" ADHD and autism in children, and still "marketed as a completely safe pain medication for pregnant women, violating Texas’s consumer protection laws."

The Texas attorney general's office also noted the Trump administration had recently highlighted the "considerable body of evidence demonstrating these dangers."

This is the first state government lawsuit since President Trump claimed last month that using Tylenol during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of autism.

The office also alleged that "Johnson & Johnson violated the Texas Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act by fraudulently transferring liabilities arising from Tylenol to a separate company, Kenvue, in order to shield their assets against lawsuits arising from the harmful impact Tylenol had on children."

Johnson & Johnson has sold Tylenol for decades, and its consumer health division spinoff, Kenvue Inc., has been selling it since 2023, ABC News reported.

Kenvue pushed back on Paxton's claims in a statement, saying it is "deeply concerned by the perpetuation of misinformation on the safety of acetaminophen and the potential impact that could have on the health of American women and children."

"Acetaminophen is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy. Without it, women face dangerous choices: suffer through conditions like fever that are potentially harmful to both mom and baby or use riskier alternatives. High fevers and pain are widely recognized as potential risks to a pregnancy if left untreated," the statement reads.

"We will defend ourselves against these baseless claims and respond per the legal process. We stand firmly with the global medical community that acknowledges the safety of acetaminophen and believe we will continue to be successful in litigation as these claims lack legal merit and scientific support."