Professor Arthur Obel, a Kenyan scientist, identified the first cases of Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Kenya and treated many AIDS patients.
Being in a respectable position also allowed him to have many close friends that were high ranking government officials, such as Philip Mbithi, the former Chief Secretary in the Office of the President of Kenya.
[2] Professor Obel joined KEMRI, the Kenya Medical Research Institute, where they aimed to find an effective treatment to eradicate HIV/AIDS.
[2] Obel claimed that Pearl Omega was a protease inhibitor and sold the drug at a very expensive price.
[4] Professor Obel was sued by many patients because of Kemron and Pearl Omega's ineffectiveness[2] and he later had a court case versus the Kenya AIDS Society in 1998.
[5] This court case against Obel was because he manufactured, distributed, and sold Pearl Omega without the approval of the Health Minister of Kenya.
Professor Arthur Obel continued his work on HIV/AIDS even after the discreditation of the Kemron and Pearl Omega medications.
In 2011, he published work on the correlation of WHO clinical staging with CD4 cell count in adult HIV positive patients at the Kenyatta National Hospital.