The University of Cape Town in South Africa has set up a committee to assess charges of professional misconduct against virologist Girish Kotwal.

The move follows a Nature Medicine article that linked Kotwal with Secomet V, an herbal remedy touted as an HIV/AIDS therapy (Nat. Med. 12, 723–724; 2006). Kotwal, who is head of medical virology at the university's Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, published a report of the compound's in vitro antiviral activity and promoted Secomet V's antiviral properties to both local and international media.

The council considers anything making medicinal claims about HIV/AIDS in a very serious light. Mandisa Hela, South Africa's Medicines Control Council

Five days after the article's publication, the university on 3 July suspended Kotwal from his research duties and closed his laboratories. A preliminary investigating committee concluded that there was prima facie evidence for charges of misconduct against Kotwal.

According to Skye Grove, a spokesperson for the university, a formal university Committee of Inquiry, which has disciplinary powers over academic staff, is investigating the charges. The committee is assessing whether Kotwal is guilty of violating rules for the approval of research on human subjects and adequate standards of care for research animals and of the misleading publication of research results.

In the meantime, South Africa's Medicines Control Council is taking action against the drug's manufacturer, Stellenbosch-based Secomet. The agency has referred the matter to the Department of Health Law Enforcement Unit, which is investigating the issue. “The [council] considers anything making medicinal claims about HIV/AIDS in a very serious light,” says registrar Mandisa Hela.

Officials from Secomet declined to comment.

Kotwal declined to comment on the investigation but told Nature Medicine, “Misinformation and twisted information and wrongful linkages and over-sensationalization cause severe and irreparable damage that will not go unchallenged in a due process.”