'Blood on its hands': FDA loses battle against ivermectin, agrees to remove COVID-related anti-drug social media posts
After losing its battle against ivermectin, the FDA has agreed to take down its social media posts urging people to avoid the usage of ivermectin for COVID.
After losing its battle against ivermectin, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to remove webpages and its social media posts urging people to avoid the usage of 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 with federal court in Southern Texas, the FDA will also remove another page titled – "Why you should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19” within 21 days."
The article on the page further says ivermectin neither authorised or approved the use of the drug to prevent or treat COVID-19 in humans or animals. It also claims that evidence do not support the efficacy of ivermectin against coronavirus.
On June 2, 2022, three doctors, Paul Marik, Mary Talley Bowden, and Robert Apter, filed a lawsuit against the FDA and its secretary Robert Califf, as well as the Department of Health and Human Services and its secretary Xavier Becerra. They accused the FDA of meddling with their capacity to practice medicine.
The lawsuit was first turned down on the basis that the FDA possessed "sovereign immunity," but a United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit overruled the lower court's ruling, stating that the "FDA is not a physician" and "even tweet-sized doses of personalised medical advice are beyond the FDA's statutory authority."
Also Read: Yogurt may reduce risk of of type 2 diabetes? Here's what US Food and Drug Administration says
FDA faces ire from proponents of ivermectin
Ivermectin has long been approved for uses in both animals and humans. In cases of humans, the drug is recommended to treat parasitic infections such as river blindness disease, thread worm infestation, tropical eosinophilia, round worm infestation, whipworm infestation, filariasis (also called elephantiasis), and loiasis.
As of Sunday, the FDA's website still does not suggest ivermectin for COVID-19, stating that excessive doses are detrimental and that pharmacy has to fill a prescription before handing over the medicine.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Mary Talley Bowden MD wrote: "This landmark case sets an important precedent in limiting FDA overreach into the doctor-patient relationship."
Stressing that Ivermectin is not an exceptional case, 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?”
Also Read: Eli Lilly's Zepbound: Here's what to know about new obesity drug approved by FDA
Australian politician Craig Kelly called FDA "corrupt", stating that it has "blood on their hands".
