# A public registry of unproven cancer clinics and reported outcomes

Source: https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-unproven-clinic-registry/  
OnCo record `idea-moon-unproven-clinic-registry` (Idea). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

A searchable public record of clinics selling unproven cancer treatments, with the claims they make, the prices, the evidence and the harms reported by patients and doctors.

## Summary

Patients spend large sums at clinics offering unproven treatments (high-dose vitamin infusions, unregulated cell therapies, hyperthermia without evidence) and oncologists see the consequences but have nowhere to report them. The proposal is a registry maintained by an independent body, populated by clinician and patient reports and public advertising, with a standard evidence grading and links to regulatory actions, plus a route to notify regulators and platforms.

## Fields

- Kind: Idea
- Last checked: 2026-09-08
- Hypothesis: A visible registry reduces spending on listed clinics, increases regulatory enforcement actions, and appears in the top search results for those clinics within a year.
- Rationale: Sunlight works where enforcement is slow; consumer protection registries change behaviour in other markets.
- Proposed test: Launch with 200 clinics in two countries; measure search visibility, referrals to regulators, and patient-reported awareness in oncology clinics.
- Maturity: speculative
- Actor: regulator

## Sources

- Bottleneck evidence (Misinformation and unproven therapies): Johnson et al., Cancer misinformation and harmful information on Facebook and other social media (JNCI 2022): https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djab141

## Connected records

- technologies: [Hyperthermia](https://onco.cc/technologies/hyperthermia/)
- terms: [Regulators beyond the FDA (EMA/CHMP, MHRA, PMDA, NMPA, TGA)](https://onco.cc/terms/regulatory-agencies/)
- bottlenecks: [Misinformation and unproven therapies](https://onco.cc/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/)
- key papers: [Cancer Misinformation and Harmful Information on Facebook and Other Social Media: A Brief Report](https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-johnson-j-natl-cancer-inst/)
- ideas: [Ban and enforce against paid advertising of unproven cancer treatments](https://onco.cc/ideas/idea-moon-ban-unproven-therapy-ads/)

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