After losing the battle against ivermectin, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided to remove webpages and social media posts advising individuals not to use the drug for COVID-19 treatment.
The FDA has already taken down a page that stated: “Should I take ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19? No.”
It will also delete posts, including one that reads: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
According to a settlement agreement filed in federal court in Southern Texas, the FDA will also remove an additional page titled “Why you should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19” within 21 days.
According to the text on the page, ivermectin has not been permitted or approved for use in people or animals to prevent or treat COVID-19. It also states that the research does not support ivermectin’s efficacy against coronavirus.
On June 2, 2022, three doctors, Paul Marik, Mary Talley Bowden, and Robert Apter, sued the FDA, its secretary Robert Califf, and the Department of Health and Human Services, its secretary, Xavier Becerra. They accused the FDA of interfering with their ability to practice medicine.
“FDA is not a physician”
The lawsuit was initially dismissed on the grounds that the FDA had “sovereign immunity,” but a United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overturned the lower court’s decision, stating that the “FDA is not a physician” and that “even tweet-sized doses of personalized medical advice are beyond the FDA’s statutory authority.”
FDA’s website still does not recommend ivermectin for COVID-19
Ivermectin has long been approved for usage in animals and humans. In humans, the medication is used to treat parasitic illnesses like river blindness disease, threadworm infestation, tropical eosinophilia, roundworm infestation, whipworm infestation, filariasis (also known as elephantiasis), and loiasis.
As of Sunday, the FDA’s website still does not recommend ivermectin for COVID-19, noting that high doses are harmful and that the pharmacy has to fill a prescription before handing over the medicine.
Mary Talley Bowden MD posted on X (previously Twitter): “This landmark case sets an important precedent in limiting FDA overreach into the doctor-patient relationship.”
Stressing that Ivermectin is not a unique example, independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr in a tweet said: “The FDA is biased against many low-cost, generic, and/or natural therapies with low-profit potential. Could it be because half its funding comes from Big Pharma?”
Craig Kelly, an Australian politician, termed the FDA “corrupt” and claimed that it has “blood on their hands”.