SciDev.Net

The doctors are banned from conducting trials on vitamins as a cure for HIV/AIDS

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The High Court in Cape Town has ruled that two doctors cannot continue to carry out unauthorised clinical trials of vitamins for HIV/AIDS in South Africa.

Matthias Rath and David Rasnick have also been ordered to stop publishing advertisements about the medicinal effects of their vitamin combination 'Vita-Cell' on people with HIV/AIDS.

Judge Dumisani Zondi ordered health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang and colleagues to take reasonable measures to prevent such trials and advertisements from occurring, and to investigate the doctors' operations.

Nathan Geffen of the Treatment Action Campaign, one of the groups behind the court action, described the ruling as a victory for scientific governance. He said it was important to remember that people had died after halting antiretroviral therapy and swapping to the vitamins.

He added that the judgment would affect the activities of others who sell products claiming to cure AIDS.

Link to full article in Health-e