Physician Matthias Rath and American doctor David Rasnick, a former adviser to President Thabo Mbeki, were accused by the lobby group Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and the South African Medical Association (SAMA) of conducting illegal AIDS drug trials among poor communities.
The Cape High Court ruled against the physicians after the groups said the unauthorized trials had led to unnecessary deaths among HIV-positive people who stopped using life-saving anti-retroviral drugs.
TAC and SAMA accused the South African government of not doing enough to stop the trials and failing in its duty to care for the public. The court ordered Rath, who studied medicine in Germany, to stop advertising his VitaCell multi-vitamins until they are approved by the Medicine Control Council of South Africa.
South Africa has one of the world's highest incidences of HIV. One in five adults are reported to be infected and an estimated 500,000 people are infected each year.
