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South African AIDS lobby group, the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), has accused the national health department of trying to undermine public health with its "unscientific, irresponsible and inaccurate statement" on the anti-AIDS drug, Nevirapine, after recent US media reports on the safety of the drug.
Last week the Associated Press published reports highlighting flaws in the way the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) had communicated problems with the HIVNET 012 Nevirapine trial in Uganda in 2002. The trial investigated the drug's safety and efficacy in preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission.
According to a local newspaper, Business Day, top NIH officials were warned that the researchers had under-reported thousands of severe reactions, including deaths.
The South African health department welcomed "further questioning [of] the safety of Nevirapine", but TAC accused the department of a "continued misinformation campaign on Nevirapine", and said it was taking legal advice on the matter.
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