FDA settles ivermectin lawsuit, agrees to delete posts discouraging its use against COVID-19

03/26/2024 / By Ava Grace

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to remove social media posts and web pages discouraging the use of ivermectin to treat Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) infection as part of a lawsuit settlement.

The FDA, which denied any wrongdoing, said it will remove content warning people not to use ivermectin to treat COVID-19 within 21 days. The move came as a condition of a settlement dated March 21, according to the Epoch Times. In exchange, doctors who sued the regulator will no longer pursue further legal action and will dismiss their claims.

Among the posts the agency will remove as part of the settlement include a March 5, 2021 consumer update titled “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” The said post contained pictures of a doctor and a horse, a nod to the antiviral being smeared as a “horse dewormer.”

Also included in the content to be removed is a post on X (formerly Twitter) that discouraged the use of ivermectin against COVID-19. “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the aforementioned post stated.

Previously, the FDA removed a page that also advised the public against taking “ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19.” It explained: “The FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19 in humans or animals.” It also falsely mentioned that data do not show ivermectin is effective against COVID-19, despite how some studies it cites show ivermectin is effective against the illness. (Related: Ivermectin helped people RECOVER FASTER from COVID-19 infections, study finds.)

In an email, an FDA spokesperson explained that the agency “has chosen to resolve this lawsuit rather than continuing to litigate over statements that are between two and nearly four years old.” They also reiterated that the FDA “has not changed its position” about ivermectin’s use against COVID-19, stressing that it hasn’t approved the antiviral drug for that purpose.

FDA smearing ivermectin despite approving it

According to Children’s Health Defense, the plaintiffs involved in the case called the March 21 settlement a big win for patients and the patient-physician relationship.

“This landmark case sets an important precedent in limiting FDA overreach into the doctor-patient relationship,” said plaintiff Dr. Mary Talley Bowden in a statement. “FDA loses its war on ivermectin and agrees to remove all social media posts and consumer directives regarding ivermectin and COVID-19, including its most popular tweet in FDA history.”

Co-plaintiff Dr. Paul Marik, also the president and chief scientific officer of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, lauded the settlement. He said: “We are extremely pleased with the outcome of the settlement, as it is a victory for every doctor and patient in the United States.”

“The FDA interfered in the practice of medicine with [its] irresponsible language and posts about ivermectin. We will never know how many lives were affected because patients were denied access to a lifesaving treatment, because their doctor was ‘just following the FDA.'”

The regulator first approved ivermectin in 1996 to treat several conditions, including river blindness. Doctors in the U.S. commonly prescribe medicines off-label, i.e. for a different purpose than the ones they were usually approved. Some doctors did exactly that during the COVID-19 pandemic, prescribing ivermectin against SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The FDA then ramped up its anti-ivermectin campaign – leading to Bowden, Marik and co-plaintiff Dr. Robert Apter taking the regulator to court in 2022. According to the plaintiffs’ lawsuit, they suffered repercussions after prescribing ivermectin to patients with COVID-19 because of the FDA’s campaign to smear the antiviral drug.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Brown of the District Court for the Southern District of Texas dismissed the case in the same year it was filed. But a three-judge panel at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Brown’s decision in 2023. The appeals court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, explaining that the FDA wasn’t authorized under existing law to give medical advice.

Visit FDA.news for more stories about the regulator.

Watch the Swedish Rebel discuss ivermectin, the “wonder medicine” Big Pharma hates.

This video is from the Swedish Rebel channel on Brighteon.com.