FDA Settles Lawsuit over Ivermectin Social Media Posts

The FDA has agreed to delete and never republish several social-media posts suggesting that ivermectin, a drug that some doctors used to treat COVID-19, is for animals and not humans.

While the FDA still does not approve of using ivermectin to treat COVID, it settled Thursday a lawsuit brought by three doctors who sued it, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary, Xavier Becerra, and FDA secretary Robert Califf. All parties have settled.

The lawsuit, filed on June 2, 2022, was brought by doctors Mary Talley Bowden, Paul Marik and Robert Apter, each of whom claimed the FDA was interfering with their ability to practice medicine.

The case was initially dismissed on the grounds the FDA had "sovereign immunity," though a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed the lower court's decision saying that the "FDA is not a physician."

The appeals court also said that, "Even tweet-sized doses of personalized medical advice are beyond the FDA's statutory authority."

The FDA and the doctors reached a settlement dated Thursday that stipulates the FDA will retire a Consumer update titled, "Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19."

The FDA also will delete and not republish posts to Twitter (now X), LinkedIn and Facebook that read: "You are not a horse. Your are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it."

Also, it will delete and not republish an Instagram post reading: "You are not a horse. Stop it with the #ivermectin. It's not authorized for treating #COVID," as well as a Twitter post that reads, "Hold your horses, y'all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it isn't authorized or approved to treat COVID-19."

This issue was famously brought to the forefront when podcaster Joe Rogan grilled CNN chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta over the former's use of ivermectin, which CNN repeatedly referred to as a "horse dewormer."

"I can afford people medicine," Rogan told Gupta three years ago. "This is ridiculous. It's just a lie."

The FDA had already retired a "Frequently Asked Questions" section that was at issue in the lawsuit. The FDA said that all of the posts and other materials will be removed within 21 days then archived, as required by law.

The FDA told Newsweek 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."

It added that the "FDA has not admitted any violation of law or any wrongdoing, disagrees with the plaintiff's allegation that the agency exceeded its authority in issuing the statements challenged in the lawsuit, and stands by its authority to communicate with the public regarding the products it regulates."

Ivermectin has long been approved for uses in both animals and humans. For the latter, a topical is used to treat issues involving lice and rosacea, while a tablet is used for parasites, intestinal strongyloidiasis and onchocerciasis.

At its website as of Friday, the FDA still is not recommending it for COVID and says large doses are dangerous and that prescriptions should be filled by a pharmacy and taken exactly as prescribed.

On X, proponents of ivermectin were taking a victory lap, with Bowden posting an image of a giant red X through one of the social media posts the FDA has agreed to remove.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., in a post seen 280,000 times as of Friday afternoon, wrote on X: "Ivermectin is not an exceptional case. 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?"

The FDA declined to respond to Kennedy's assertion, though it reiterated that it "has not changed its position that currently available clinical trial data do not demonstrate that ivermectin is effective against COVID-19. The agency has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19."