A federal appeals court overturned a prior judgment on Friday, enabling a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lawsuit involving its campaign against the use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 to proceed.
In a lawsuit filed against the FDA last year, three different doctors asserted that the agency had overstepped its boundaries in its anti-ivermectin campaign, “acting more like a medical body than a regulator.”
A district judge had originally ruled that the lawsuit could not proceed, but in a Friday decision, the 5th Circuit Appeals judge gave the physicians new hope by remanding the matter to a lower court for reconsideration.
“FDA is not a physician. It has authority to inform, announce, and apprise — but not to endorse, denounce, or advise,” said Judge Don Willett. “The Doctors have plausibly alleged that FDA’s Posts fell on the wrong side of the line between telling about and telling to.”
Ivermectin is an anti-parasite drug that is frequently prescribed to horses but also occasionally prescribed to people as well. The FDA’s campaign, which featured viral posters stating “You are not a horse,” underscored the agency’s warnings that it should not be used to treat the COVID-19 virus.
“Although [the] FDA has approved ivermectin for certain uses in humans and animals, it 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’s recommendations stated.
While a handful of people were reportedly hospitalized and some even died from the drug, which occurs if one takes ivermectin in addition to certain other medications, many groups still welcomed it as a miracle cure and claimed to receive beneficial results for their health.
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