Developer of ‘AIDS Drug’ Is Sentenced

SANTA ANA — A Villa Park radiologist who developed a homemade AIDS drug was sentenced Wednesday to three years’ informal probation and fined $12,000 for his part in advertising and selling the product.

Stephen Herman, 55, pleaded guilty in Central Municipal Court to 10 misdemeanor counts in connection with the sale of the drug called Viroxan.

In July, he agreed to surrender his medical license after state prosecutors agreed to drop civil charges of gross negligence, incompetence, dishonesty and other offenses, according to his attorney Andrew Lloyd.

Kathy Schmidt, a senior investigator with the California Medical Board, said she was satisfied with the outcome, “considering the charges that were filed.”

Schmidt said it was “an appropriate pleading. The reality in these situations is that doctors don’t go to jail.”

Herman, who is disabled and has not practiced medicine since 1984, formulated Viroxan from an alcohol compound in his kitchen sink, investigators said. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Four patients died after injecting themselves with Viroxan, officials said. Although investigators said there was no proof Viroxan directly caused the deaths, investigators said at least two of the deaths were probably hastened by the treatment.