An American doctor based in Taranaki has been struck off the medical register for pushing an untested liquid solution as a cancer treatment.
Dr Mitchell Feller is the partial owner of Pure Cure, the company that produces Te Kiri Gold - a mixture of water, chlorine and sodium that's been advertised as a way of killing cancer cells and relieving symptoms.
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It was sold to terminally ill patients for $100 per two litres, earning PureCure more than $300,000.
The solution deemed a "snake oil cure" by medical experts, does not meet the Government's safe drinking water guidelines due to its high volume of salt and chlorine.
Dr Feller conducted clinical trials of Te Kiri Gold on about 500 patients which did not meet international guidelines.
On Tuesday, at the end of a two-day hearing in Wellington, Dr Feller's medical registration was cancelled by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. He was fined $5000 and ordered to pay another $56,000 in costs.
Dr Feller did not attend the hearing and is believed to have returned to the US, NZME reports.
In 2016 rugby legend Sir Colin Meads claimed drinking Te Kiri Gold cured his pancreatic cancer, a statement he later walked back. He died in 2017.
The reality TV handyman John 'Cocksy' Cocks was also a fan of Te Kiri Gold before he died of kidney cancer in February.
Newshub.
