Tylenol shares tumbled Friday after reports that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to release a study this month linking prenatal use of the drug—and low folate levels—to autism, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Tylenol, an acetaminophen-based pain and fever reliever widely considered safe in pregnancy, is made by McNeil Consumer Healthcare under parent company Kenvue. Kenvue shares fell over 14% Friday after the report on a possible autism link.
Since becoming HHS secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has vowed to pinpoint autism’s causes, telling Trump in the spring, “By September, we will know what has caused the autism epidemic.”
Critics, including the Autism Society of America, called the timeline unrealistic and the “epidemic” framing harmful and stigmatizing.
The Wall Street Journal reported that NIH is drafting the autism study using existing research and will outline other possible causes and future research needs. Tylenol’s parent company pushed back on reports of the HHS findings.
“Nothing is more important to us than the health and safety of the people who use our products,” a Kenvue spokeswoman told the Journal. “We have continuously evaluated the science and continue to believe there is no causal link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism.”
Conversely, HHS dismissed the Journal’s report, calling any claims about the upcoming study’s contents speculative until its release.
“We are using gold-standard science to get to the bottom of America’s unprecedented rise in autism rates. Until we release the final report, any claims about its contents are nothing more than speculation,” an HHS spokesperson told FOX Business.
