South African doctors belonging to the South African Medical Association and the AIDS activist group the Treatment Action Campaign have won a victory against the country’s health minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, several top government employees, and Matthias Rath, who manufactures and sells vitamins as a treatment for AIDS.

The Cape High Court has effectively stopped Dr Rath from selling his supplements or conducting clinical trials that are not authorised by the Medicines Control Council (MCC). At the same time it has ordered the health minister to do her job properly in ensuring that treatments requiring registration are properly scrutinised.

The medical association and …