Anti-ivermectin statements made by the FDA are not being changed, even after an appeals court ruled against the agency.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is refusing to change its statements against ivermectin, even after a court said it acted outside of its authority when it told people to stop using it to treat COVID-19.
The U.S. appeals court said that the FDA’s statements, including one telling people to “stop” using ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment, went beyond the authority conferred on the agency by Congress.
“FDA can inform, but it has identified no authority allowing it to recommend consumers ‘stop’ taking medicine,” U.S. Circuit Judge Don Willett wrote in the Sept. 1 ruling.
Two weeks later, FDA social media posts and a key webpage remain unchanged.
That includes an Aug. 21, 2021, Twitter post, on the social media site since renamed X, that hyperlinked to a FDA webpage and stated: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.”
The page has not been updated either. It says people “should not use ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19.”
The appeals court did not order the FDA to take any action and remanded the case to a lower court for consideration on standing.
But Dr. Robert Apter, the lead plaintiff in the case that led to the ruling, said that the FDA should still take action.
“From an ethical point of view, the FDA has been told not to do what they are doing. They have an ethical and moral obligation to follow the court’s directive and stop giving advice against using effective repurposed drugs for early treatment of COVID,” Dr. Apter told The Epoch Times in a message.
The FDA declined to comment.
“The FDA does not comment on possible, pending, or ongoing litigation,” a spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.
In a statement after the ruling was handed down, the agency noted that ivermectin is approved by the FDA but for other uses. The FDA “has not authorized or approved ivermectin for use in preventing or treating COVID-19, nor has the agency stated that it is safe or effective for that use,” the agency said.
“Health care professionals generally may choose to prescribe an approved human drug for an unapproved use when they judge that the unapproved use is medically appropriate for an individual patient,” it added.
Such prescriptions are known as off-label prescriptions and are common in the United States.
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