A federal appeals court in New York on July 13, 2026, revived hundreds of lawsuits against Kenvue, the manufacturer of Tylenol, which claim the company concealed risks that its painkiller could cause autism in children whose mothers took the drug during pregnancy. The three-judge panel ruled that a lower court had improperly excluded expert testimony from three doctors presented by the plaintiffs regarding the alleged link. Among the experts whose testimony was wrongly excluded were Andrea Baccarelli, dean of Harvard University's School of Public Health, Eric Hollander, a psychiatry professor, and Brandon Pearson, a toxicologist. This decision overturns a December 2024 ruling by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, who had dismissed over 500 cases, criticizing the plaintiffs' expert methodologies.
The appeals court's decision is a significant setback for Kenvue, which was spun off from Johnson & Johnson in 2023. Kenvue's shares dropped by 1.8% to $19.13 in afternoon trading on news of the ruling, following a 12% decline a year prior after President Donald Trump's comments linking Tylenol to autism. Bloomberg Intelligence estimated in March that the revival of these lawsuits could lead to thousands of new cases, potentially costing Kenvue billions of dollars to settle. Kimberly-Clark, which agreed to acquire Kenvue for over $40 billion in November, saw its shares fall 2.7% to $109.34.
Kenvue maintains that independent scientific research shows no proven link between acetaminophen and autism or ADHD. The company stated that the court's decision does not alter this fact and plans to continue challenging the reliability of the plaintiffs' expert opinions in further proceedings. The issue has drawn political attention, with President Donald Trump and other U.S. health officials in September 2025 suggesting a link between Tylenol and autism, urging pregnant women to avoid it. This sparked controversy in maternal medicine, as acetaminophen has long been considered a safe and preferred treatment for pain and fever during pregnancy.
