By Susan Heavey and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump’s top health official on Wednesday said evidence does not show that Kenvue’s pain medicine Tylenol definitively causes autism but that it should still be used cautiously, a month after the president said U.S. health officials would recommend limiting its use.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s comments also come one day after the Republican state of Texas sued the maker of the medicine, also known as acetaminophen and which has been sold widely for decades.
“The causative association … between Tylenol given in pregnancy and the perinatal periods is not sufficient to say it definitely cause autism. But it is very suggestive,” Kennedy told reporters, citing animal, blood and observational studies.
“There should be a cautious approach to it,” he added.
Trump, who is not a doctor, in September warned pregnant women against taking the medication without citing any scientific evidence. His unproven claim initially hit shares of the consumer health company, which was spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, and prompted pushback from many doctors.
Kenvue has repeatedly defended the pain medicine, saying there is no scientific link to autism and warning that such suggestions could endanger maternal health.
The company has urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reject the call for an autism warning on Tylenol’s label, and has reportedly hired a new marketing chief.
“We agree, as Secretary Kennedy said, that the best message to pregnant women is to consult their healthcare professional before taking acetaminophen, which is what our Tylenol label tells consumers to do. We also agree that there is no definitive causative association between taking acetaminophen and autism,” the company said in a statement.
Kenvue shares were down 1.4% at market close on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Susan Heavey and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington, and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler, Deepa Babington and David Gregorio)
