Johnson & Johnson has sued four doctors who published studies citing links between talc-based personal care products and cancer, escalating an attack on scientific studies that the company alleges are inaccurate.

Adam Zimmerman, a professor at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law, said companies rarely file lawsuits over research they disagree with. It will be very difficult for LTL to prove that the researchers intentionally harmed J&J’s reputation, which is required for product disparagement cases in New Jersey, but the company may view the lawsuits as a way to discourage other researchers or reclaim the narrative about talc safety, Zimmerman said.