In a major narrative reversal, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said that doctors are free to prescribe Ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. This admission, made by an FDA attorney appearing before the United States 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, is in direct contrast with the organization’s messaging during the pandemic when Ivermectin was labeled a “controversial horse dewormer.”
“FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID,” said attorney Ashley Cheung Honold during oral arguments before the court on Tuesday. The 5th Circuit is in the process of hearing a case brought by three doctors who alleged that the FDA overstepped its boundaries with its public information campaign against human consumption of Ivermectin. Doctors Paul Marik, Mary Bowden, and Robert Apter all allege that they were professionally harmed by their efforts to prescribe the drug to patients. A federal judge threw out the case in 2022, prompting the hearing in the appeals court.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA and other government bodies strongly cautioned against taking Ivermectin, a powerful anti-parasitic drug that won its creators the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine, as a treatment for the virus. Citing examples of people hospitalized after consuming the non-prescription version of the drug meant for animals, the government took steps to throttle Ivermectin prescriptions.
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“You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it,” read a 2021 tweet still posted on the FDA’s social media page.
You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it. https://t.co/TWb75xYEY4
— U.S. FDA (@US_FDA) August 21, 2021
During the pandemic, public figures like podcaster Joe Rogan spoke openly about taking Ivermectin once they tested positive for COVID-19, but various levels of online censorship prevented them from talking about any potential benefits.
However, during the court appearance, the FDA maintains that the public information campaign was never an order, but rather a suggestion.
“What about when it said, ‘No, stop it’?” Circuit Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, a panel judge for the hearing, asked. “Why isn’t that a command? If you were in English class, they would say that was a command.”
Honold responded that “in some contexts, those words could be construed as a command. But in this context, where FDA was simply using these words in the context of a quippy tweet meant to share its informational article, those statements do not rise to the level of a command.”
Thus far in the hearing, judges have indicated they agree that the FDA is not able to give medical advice to the public. However, the FDA argues that it did no such thing, claiming Congressional authority to “communicate information to the public about safe uses of drugs.”
“The FDA is politically accountable, just like all other executive agencies,” Honold said.
The hearing concluded on Tuesday afternoon. Judges on the panel did not immediately announce when they will rule on the appeal.
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