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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2008;300(3):271.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

A South African court declared on June 13 that unauthorized clinical trials of vitamin and micronutrient products marketed by German physician Matthias Rath, MD, and associates as a treatment for HIV/AIDS were unlawful (http://www.tac.org.za/community/files/file/TACAndSAMAVersusRathAndGovernmentJudgment.pdf). The court also prohibited Rath and other defendants from publishing advertisements for the vitamin products.

The case was initiated by the Treatment Action Campaign, an advocacy organization for people with HIV/AIDS, and the South African Medical Association. The 2 groups accused Rath of promoting his vitamin products as an AIDS therapy and claiming that antiretroviral drugs were toxic. They also accused South African health officials of failing in their duties to investigate and prevent Rath's unlawful activities.

South Africa's Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, MD, had argued before the court that Rath's products were outside of the regulatory scope of the government's Medicines Control Council because they were foodstuffs rather than . . . [Full Text of this Article]