Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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UN Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 8, 2001
Tanzania's Ministry of Home Affairs said on Wednesday that Jacques Visser and Themba Khumalo appeared to have conducted illegal medical trials with various versions of the controversial Virodene drug on patients at Lugalo military hospital in Dar es Salaam. Virodene's active ingredient is a highly toxic industrial solvent, dimethyl formamide (DMF), which has been banned for human use in South Africa and elsewhere due to dangerous side effects. Medical researchers writing in the journal, 'AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses' in 1997 also warned that DMF might actually activate HIV. Virodene has not yet been approved for use by any regulatory authority in the world.
Tanzania's home affairs permanent secretary Bernard Mchomvu said on Wednesday the country's National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) never gave permission for the tests to be conducted at Lugalo and a second private clinic. Mchomvu said none of the Virodene formulas used in the trials had been registered with Tanzania's Pharmacy Board.
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