Journalist Celia Farber has filed a 21-page libel suit against Richard Jefferys of the HIV/AIDS research- and policy-focused Treatment Action Group, accusing him of orchestrating a campaign against her, the New York Post reports. Farber claims that Jefferys began attacking her last May when she won the Semmelweis Clean Hands Award for Outstanding Investigative Journalism for her 2006 Harper’s magazine article, “AIDS and the Corruption of Medical Science.”

In her article, Farber gave credence to noted AIDS denialist Peter Duesberg’s theory that HIV is a harmless “passenger” virus and not the cause of AIDS, questioning the efficacy of antiretroviral medicine. Jefferys and his team reportedly blasted the Semmelweis Society with e-mails accusing Farber of reshaping quotes and misrepresenting scientific documents.

According to the Post, the Semmelweis Society responded by launching its own investigation, concluding that the AIDS industry itself could be characterized as a corrupt business in need of whistleblowers. Despite the battle to annul Farber’s Semmelweis award, it remains in her possession.