In a major win for health freedom, the FDA agreed to remove social media posts as part of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by three doctors accusing it of interfering in their ability to prescribe Ivermectin to treat COVID-19.
A quick refresher: During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some doctors and researchers believed Ivermectin could be a useful treatment for the virus. But they were immediately met with widespread condemnation from the U.S. health bureaucracy.
- In one tweet, the FDA falsely suggested the drug was not meant for humans, writing: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
- In a second tweet, it said: “Hold your horses, y’all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19.”
- Both tweets linked to an FDA website that said Ivermectin “was used for large animals like horses and cows, which weigh a lot more than we do.”
The lawsuit: In June 2022, doctors Mary Talley Bowden, Paul R. Marik, and Robert L. Apter sued the FDA, citing U.S. laws that say the FDA “may not interfere with the authority of a health care provider to prescribe or administer any legally marked device to a patient for any condition or disease within a legitimate health care practitioner-patient relationship.”
Victory: The doctors settled their lawsuit after the FDA agreed to remove both tweets and the article referenced above.
- Dr. Bowden responded, saying: “The damage the FDA inflicted will linger, but future patients are now protected from one meaningful government intrusion into their medical care.”
The truth about Ivermectin: It’s an antiparasitic medication that has been used to treat humans across the world since the 1980s. It’s estimated that over 2.5 billion doses have been administered since its discovery.
- Its discovery was so impactful that it earned the Nobel Prize in 2015.
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