The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reportedly settled a lawsuit waged by three doctors, agreeing to remove social media posts mocking the drug Ivermectin.
The three doctors — Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, Dr. Paul E. Marik and Dr. Robert L. Apter — alleged in the lawsuit filed in June 2022 that the FDA interfered with their ability to practice medicine and prescribe Ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients during the pandemic, according to Emily Post News.
Part of the settlement involved the FDA removing two posts ridiculing the use of Ivermectin from multiple social media platforms, Emily Post News reported. One post from Aug. 21, 2021, jeeringly told people who supported taking the drug, which was not approved by the FDA, that they were “not a horse” or “a cow.”
“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” the post, published on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, reportedly read.
The FDA has reportedly changed their position on Ivermectin and agreed to remove all negative posts.
They should (at a minimum) issue a formal announcement & apology. How many people might have been saved if the FDA had acted honestly?
Tweet archived: https://t.co/gpSMclQtS5 https://t.co/W68GeXJfg5
— Jeff Carlson (@themarketswork) March 22, 2024
The FDA agreed to remove a similar post from April 26, 2022, posted on Twitter. The federal agency reportedly wrote, “Hold your horses, y’all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19.”
Both posts contained a link to a website by the FDA titled “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” The website, which was originally published on March 5, 2021, and revised on Sept. 7, 2021, will be “retired” by the FDA, the outlet added.
The doctors chose to settle the lawsuit after the FDA agreed to remove the “misleading” social media posts about Ivermectin, according to Emily Post News. The drug, which the FDA emphasized on its website “was used for large animals like horses and cows, which weigh a lot more than we do,” made headlines in September 2021 when podcaster Joe Rogan said he used Ivermectin under the guidance of medical professionals after contracting COVID-19. (RELATED: Jonathan Turley Blasts Kentanji Brown Jackson’s ‘Chilling’ Take On Free Speech, Govt Censorship)
“The damage the FDA inflicted will linger, but future patients are now protected from one meaningful government intrusion into their medical care,” Bowden told the outlet.
“After nearly two years and a resounding rebuke by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the FDA has agreed to remove its misleading social media posts and consumer directives regarding ivermectin and COVID-19,” she added.