Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge
Google will allow ads for stem cell treatments that are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration — a change from its previous policy, which banned all ads for this experimental category of medical care. The policy update was first reported by Gizmodo and will go into effect in July.
The company said in the policy update that it will also allow cell or gene therapy ads that are “exclusively educational or informational in nature,” even if they reference products or applications that are not approved by the FDA. It’s not clear how Google would define “educational” or “informational” or what type of advertisements would be allowed under that umbrella.
Stem cell therapy is a broad term for medical treatments that use stem cells,…
