YouTube removes video on possible coronavirus treatment based on UV rays
Clip removed for violating 'community guidelines' after hosting giant pledged to stick to WHO recommendations
YouTube removed a video Friday touting an ultraviolet-based medical platform as a possible treatment for COVID-19 coronavirus.
The video in question was posted by Aytu BioScience, a publicly-traded special pharmaceutical company focused on "commercializing novel products," after the White House said there was evidence humidity and ultra-violet light could greatly affect the virus.
It promoted a product called Healight, developed by Californian Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and exclusively licensed to Aytu BioScience, as per a press release published April 20.
The Google subsidiary took down the clip for "violating community guidelines" after being flagged by a New York Times reporter. Previously, YouTube said it was going to take down coronavirus content that did not follow the World Health Organization's guidelines on COVID-19.
In development since 2016, Healight draws on the UV-based treatments for skin diseases like psoriasis, where the rays are used to destroy viral germs, with a UV emitter delivered on a catheter into an intubated patient's trachea.
The video, still available on the company's website, explicitly states that the product has not been reviewed by the FDA yet and, at this stage, is not recommended as a set-in-stone COVID-19 treatment. However, the company did tout it as a possible coronavirus treatment in the long run.
Aytu BioScience is among the private companies that geared up to turn the COVID-19 crisis into a tailwind, earlier licensing a rapid coronavirus test produced in China that, according to NBC News, has not been approved by Chinese authorities and has now been banned for exports by Beijing.