Tylenol maker rebounds a day after Trump’s unfounded claims about its safety

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Shares of Tylenol maker Kenvue bounced back sharply at the opening bell Tuesday, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump promoted unproven and in some cases discredited ties between Tylenol, vaccines and autism.

“Don’t take Tylenol,” Trump instructed pregnant women around a dozen times during the White House news conference Monday, also urging mothers not to give their infants the drug, known by the generic name acetaminophen in the U.S. or paracetamol in most other countries.

Shares of the New Jersey consumer brands company tumbled 7.5 per cent Monday. At the open of trading, shares bounced back by more than six per cent.

The announcement, which appeared to rely on existing studies rather than significant new research, arrives as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, advances the Make America Healthy Again movement that has focused on what it sees as potential causes of autism.

Kenvue disputed any link between the drug and autism this week and warned that if pregnant mothers don’t use Tylenol when in need, they could face a dangerous choice between suffering fevers or using riskier alternatives.

Kenvue was spun off from Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical and medical device divisions in 2023 because it was thought that the companies could function more efficiently if they were independent from each other. Aside from Tylenol, the consumer health company makes Band-Aids, Listerine and other household brand names.

Citi Investment Research analyst Filippo Falorni wrote that he sees a limited risk of new lawsuits after Trump’s announcement, but thinks “there could be risk to Tylenol consumption given the negative headlines.”

Falorni anticipates a positive reaction for Kenvue’s stock at the opening bell on Tuesday given the lack of new scientific evidence.

The company has fought hundreds of lawsuits related to the product and its alleged ties to autism, but most have been dismissed.

Tylenol made headlines in the 1980s when seven people in the Chicago area were killed after taking the over-the-counter painkiller laced with cyanide. The incident triggered a nationwide panic and led to an overhaul in the safety of over-the-counter medication packaging. No one was ever charged in the deaths.

Michelle Chapman, The Associated Press