The substance V-1 Immunitor cannot be distributed or sold because
it is not registered as an Aids drug or a food supplement, the
Food and Drug Administration says.
FDA secretary-general Supachai Kunaratanapruk said the agency
last year revoked a licence allowing the product to be marketed
and sold as a food supplement.
The FDA revoked the licence after the manufacturers placed
The FDA said claims of the product's properties were exaggerated.
"The backers claim the product is an Aids cure, but it does not
contain any medicinal properties. If it could really cure
HIV/Aids, it would have been registered as a drug and not a food
supplement in the first place," he said.
Magnesium chloride was named as the main ingredient in the
He has warned consumers, particularly people with HIV/Aids,
against being lured into purchasing the substance in the belief
it can cure the disease.
The clinic was selling the product, which comes in the form of a
pill, for 30 baht a tablet and patients were told to take it
twice a day.
The licence of the Chachoengsao plant making V-1 Immunitor has
been temporarily held back and a ban imposed on production.
Dr Supachai was speaking after police and health staff raided Ban
Bangpakong clinic on Saturday.
The ministry said it was being run as an illegal clinic.
Thares Saengsakul, the operator, and three staff were charged
with providing medical treatment and extracting blood from
patients, which is allowed only at licensed clinics. They were
released on bail.
Although the Public Health Ministry does not allow V-1 Immunitor
here, the substance has been flooding into Asian and African
countries such as Malaysia and Swaziland.
In 2001, the product's backers distributed the product widely in
Thailand, with the support of the Salang Bunnag Foundation, which
later parted company with the manufacturers.