University of Cape Town Professor Girish Kotwal, who used university laboratories to research an herbal concoction touted as a ”anti-HIV” remedy, has resigned from his position as chair of virology.
An internal joint statement by UCT and Kotwal this week announced that Kotwal ”will resign his position with effect from December 31 to pursue his research interests in natural medicine”.
Allegations of misconduct were investigated in July after an article in Nature Medicine linked Kotwal’s research at UCT to Secomet V, a herbal remedy manufactured in Stellenbosch and advertised at the time as an ”anti-HIV” remedy. ”We presented the findings of three investigating committees to Professor Kotwal and his legal representative and he decided to resign,” said Professor David Dent, deputy dean of the medical faculty.
Kotwal has admitted that an article he published in the prestigious Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences ”failed to report salient features” of the product relating to its toxicity. He also admitted that it was misleading to claim that his study was independent in spite of the fact that one of his co-authors, Dr Steven Leivers, is a director of Secomet V, which also funded the study.
Kotwal acknowledged that the Secomet study had not been submitted for institutional ethical approval or for approval by the Medicines Control Council’s clinical trials division, although he had been led by the manufacturers to believe that this had been done. Kotwal has been cleared of charges that he had a financial interest in Secomet V and that he championed or promoted the product.
In the meantime, UCT has cancelled a royalty agreement which its department of innovation entered into with the manufacturers and has severed all ties with Secomet V. It is not clear what information UCT had about the product when it concluded the agreement.
The investigation also found that Kotwal had failed to keep adequate records and follow correct procedures and laboratory disciplines. However, no staff were exposed to hazardous material.