Texas officials have asked a state court judge to temporarily block Kenvue Inc. from marketing Tylenol as safe for pregnant women, and from issuing a dividend, escalating the company’s legal woes just days after announcing a major merger with Kimberly-Clark Corp.
The request for a temporary restraining order is the latest step in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s effort to hold the Tylenol maker and its former parent company, Johnson & Johnson, accountable for what he alleges was a years-long campaign to conceal links of acetaminophen — the active ingredient in Tylenol — to autism and other disorders for children if mothers take it during pregnancy.