northjersey.com: Junk science puts New Jersey patients at risk. This is how

By Jeanette Hoffman, Patients Come First New Jersey’s Executive Director

New Jersey is home to some of the world’s leading medical research institutions, pharmaceutical innovators and health care providers. Our state prides itself on being at the forefront of scientific discovery and patient care. Yet today, a growing threat is quietly undermining that progress and putting patients directly in harm’s way. It’s called junk science.

Junk science, sometimes referred to as agenda-driven science, masquerades as legitimate research but is built on flawed methods, cherry-picked data and misleading assumptions designed to support a predetermined outcome. It fuels a misinformation machine that has real-world consequences, especially when it enters courtrooms and floods the airwaves and social media through legal advertising.

For New Jersey patients, this isn’t an abstract policy debate. It’s a matter of health and safety.

When lawyers play doctor

Across the Garden State, residents are bombarded with legal ads warning that everyday, FDA-approved medications or consumer products are dangerous. These ads often rely on exaggerated or unsupported scientific claims to recruit plaintiffs for class action lawsuits. The result? Fear.

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Recent polling from Patients Come First, a national patient advocacy organization, shows that a meaningful share of patients say they would consider stopping their medication after seeing just one of these ads — sometimes before ever speaking with their doctor. That's deeply concerning. Abruptly discontinuing prescribed medication can be dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening.

These ads undermine the patient-doctor relationship by allowing trial lawyers — not medical professionals — to shape health care decisions. In a state where chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and autoimmune disorders affect millions, misinformation can have devastating consequences.

Junk science in the courtroom

The problem doesn’t stop with advertising. Junk science often finds its way into courtrooms, where so-called “experts” are paid to testify on behalf of whichever side hires them. Despite the complexity of scientific evidence, judges and juries are often asked to evaluate claims that may sound credible, but lack rigorous, objective support.

That’s why the Federal Rule of Evidence 702 exists — to keep unreliable science out of the courtroom. The rule was strengthened in late 2023 to clarify that judges must act as gatekeepers, ensuring expert testimony is based on sound methods, reliable data, and proper application of science to the facts of a case.

But here’s the catch: those protections only apply automatically in federal courts. States must adopt or enforce similar standards themselves. New Jersey should not lag behind.

The cost to innovation and patients

New Jersey’s life sciences ecosystem is one of our greatest economic and public health assets. But junk science-driven litigation drains resources away from research and development, slows innovation, and makes companies more risk-averse. That means fewer breakthroughs, delayed treatments, and fewer options for patients, especially those suffering from diseases with limited or no existing therapies.

Patients deserve access to the best innovation and treatments that our biomedical system has to offer. When innovation stalls, hope stalls with it. Every dollar diverted to defending against claims rooted in bad science is a dollar not spent on developing the next life-saving treatment.

Read the full op-ed in northjersey.com here.