Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing the pharmaceutical companies behind Tylenol for “deceptively marketing” the medication as a safe option for pregnant mothers.
The lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson and Kenvue, which Paxton filed on Tuesday, claimed that the companies knew that being exposed to acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, before birth or in early childhood leads to an increased risk of autism and other health conditions but hid that information from consumers.
President Donald Trump claimed that using Tylenol during pregnancy increases the risk of a child having autism in a September announcement, after Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised earlier in the year to find what “has caused the autism epidemic.”
Leading obstetrics experts and medical associations, however, have largely disputed the claimed link and the quality of the studies the Trump Administration has cited when making it.
“Suggestions that acetaminophen use in pregnancy causes autism are not only highly concerning to clinicians but also irresponsible when considering the harmful and confusing message they send to pregnant patients, including those who may need to rely on this beneficial medicine during pregnancy,” Steven J. Fleischman, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), said in September. “In more than two decades of research on the use of acetaminophen in pregnancy, not a single reputable study has successfully concluded that the use of acetaminophen in any trimester of pregnancy causes neurodevelopmental disorders in children.”
Read more: Trump Links Tylenol Use During Pregnancy to Autism. What Does the Science Show?
Paxton, however, pointed to the Trump Administration’s claims in his state’s lawsuit, alleging that the pharmaceutical companies had long had access to evidence cited by the Administration but declined to take action.
“These corporations lied for decades, knowingly endangering millions to line their pockets,” Paxton said in a press release. “By holding Big Pharma accountable for poisoning our people, we will help Make America Healthy Again.”
The Texas lawsuit is the first a state government has filed against the pharmaceutical companies over the alleged link between Tylenol and autism. But hundreds of families with children with autism or attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) have filed legal challenges over similar claims.
Kenvue, which spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023 and has sold Tylenol since, has repeatedly defended the medication’s safety and denied allegations that it misled customers. “Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products. We are 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,” the company said in response to the lawsuit. “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.”
Johnson & Johnson told multiple news outlets in a statement that it “divested its consumer health business years ago, and all rights and liabilities associated with the sale of its over-the-counter products, including Tylenol (acetaminophen), are owned by Kenvue.” TIME has reached out to Johnson & Johnson for comment.
A New York federal judge dismissed some of the lawsuits earlier this year due to a lack of reliable scientific evidence. The plaintiffs are appealing the decision. Many of the other cases are still moving through the court system.
In addition to the allegations that the companies hid the risks of taking acetaminophen, Paxton’s lawsuit also alleges that Johnson & Johnson sought to evade liability for its actions by spinning off Kenvue. Prior to the spinoff, Johnson & Johnson sold Tylenol for more than six decades.
The legal challenge is one of several the Texas Attorney General has filed against health and pharmaceutical companies.
Paxton, who is running for the U.S. Senate, has previously filed lawsuits against Eli Lilly—alleging that the company bribed medical providers to prescribe GLP-1 medications and others it manufactures—and Pfizer. Paxton filed an appeal in the latter lawsuit, in which he claimed the company unlawfully misrepresented the efficacy of its COVID-19 vaccine, after a district court dismissed the case. Pfizer has previously said that the lawsuit was without merit and that “representations made by the company about its COVID-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based.” A spokesperson for Eli Lilly in August said the company intends to “vigorously defend against” the lawsuit, pointing to previous court rulings that found similar accusations lacked merit.
The Texas Attorney General and the top prosecutors of many other states, won a $700 million settlement against Johnson & Johnson in a lawsuit that accused the company of making misleading claims about its talc-based baby powder.
