Yesterday, Google announced that it updated its advertising policies to prohibit advertising for unproven or experimental medical techniques, including stem cell therapy, cellular therapy, and gene therapy.
Google's new policy will prohibit ads selling treatments that have no established biomedical or scientific basis, as well as ads promoting treatments that are rooted in basic scientific findings and preliminary clinical experience, but currently have insufficient formal clinical testing to justify widespread clinical use.
Google said that the policy change was a result of the fact that it has "seen a rise in bad actors attempting to take advantage of individuals by offering untested, deceptive treatments."
Google did say, however, that it will continue to allow advertising for clinical trials and for advertising that allows clinicians to promote research findings to the public.