But amid mounting public anger, the Cyberspace Administration of China said in a statement that it has launched a joint investigation with the country’s health authorities and business regulator into Baidu.
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Wei Zexi, a computer science major at Xidian University in Shaanxi province, died on April 12.
The regulator said in a short statement Wei’s case had attracted widespread attention on the Internet.
Wei Zexi, a 21-year-old college student, had already been diagnosed as having a terminal soft tissue disease when his family found an experimental immunotherapy treatment via a Baidu search.
However, the Beijing Armed Police Corps Second Hospital – a certified top military hospital – insisted that the treatment centre was still under the hospital’s management and not the Putian medical group.
The incident has raised debate on whether the company should do more to verify advertisers who pay to promote articles or other information in search rankings, Xinhua News Agency said. Medical advertisements make up 30% of Baidu’s ad revenue, according to Quartz.
Instead, they are marked by two small, gray characters denoting the listing as a paid promotion. While our son posted his experience online, his objective was simple: “just to let more people know the therapy is useless”. The hospital marketed an innovative treatment for synovial sarcoma, the rare form of cancer Wei suffered from. The treatment, which employs cells generated by the patient’s immune system, and cost Wei’s family about 200,000 yuan, the newspaper reported.
The story has also reignited public concern over Baidu’s advertising ethics, following an earlier scandal where the hospital admitted it allowed healthcare companies to moderate online health forums.
For its own part, Baidu says it’s asked for the hospital to be investigated.
A visit to the center on Monday found that its operations has been suspended. The hospital could not be reached for comment.
The search engine responded by pledging to investigate the hospital’s credentials, while the hospital responded by saying it shut its cancer treatment program on Monday.
However, the possibility that such treatment might be helpful for some patients can not be ruled out, Ying said. The student died last month, it said. At the time, Baidu apologized and said it would seek ways to “reflect deeply” on such practices. After receiving radiation and chemotherapy, according to the South China Morning Post, he used Baidu to search for alternative treatments and opted for a form of immunotherapy at the hospital based on recommended results.
Currently, there is no regulation of this practice. Back in 2008, the company removed paid search listings of unlicensed medical and pharmaceutical companies, which sent the company’s stock tumbling 25 percent.
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Baidu shares have slumped in the USA on news of an investigation by regulators in China over the death of a student.
