FDA Deletes Anti-Ivermectin COVID Website and Social Media
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden won lawsuit in a settlement that forced the government to admit the medication is safe for humans and drop horse scare tactics
Talk about a Friday night news dump.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this weekend secretly deleted all its social media posts and a website that said ivermectin was only for cows and horses. For the first time, the FDA wrote on its .gov website that ivermectin can be safely taken by humans for COVID.
The agency did this as part of a settlement with three doctors who use the medication off-label to treat COVID-19. They said the FDA was interfering with the doctor-patient relationship.
EXCLUSIVE: You first read about this case in my story in June 2022.
Medication for Horses and Cows
Dr. Mary Talley Bowden of
had mixed feelings about the deleted posts online here on X (formerly Twitter) that said “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it”“The FDA finally took down their most viewed tweet in FDA history,” said Dr. Bowden who has treated over 6,000 COVID patients. “The tweet had dire consequences.”
Social Media Deleted
The FDA also this weekend deleted the 2022 Twitter post below that said “Hold your horses, y’all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn’t authorized or approved to treat COVID-19.”
The agency also wiped its other social media accounts of the horse-themed, anti-ivermectin posts. The LinkedIn post that said “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it” was deleted in the past two days.
The FDA’s defense in court was partly that the social media were not official statements. The courts disagreed. So, this tweet below is now deleted.
You can see it is now marked deleted and the link to does nowhere.
FDA Social Media Staying Online
This post thread below from the FDA is still online because it doesn't mention the horses and cows. It was part of a publicity blitz last summer after the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the doctors on prescribing medications as they see fit.
All of the FDA posts in Aug. 2023 on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram that tried to convince people that ivermectin is not approved and not a “safe or effective” treatment for COVID can stay online because they don’t focus on animals.
FDA’s New Website: Ivermectin for Humans
The FDA was forced in the lawsuit settlement to “retire” (delete) the website below from March 2021 that said “Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19.” An archive of the site is here.
The new FDA website is titled simply “Ivermectin and COVID-19.” It says the medication is not approved to treat COVID but acknowledges for the first time that doctors can prescribe it.
The new language was forced by the courts because, as one appeals court judge said, “FDA is not a physician.”
The key section on the new website is this:
From the FDA’s perspective, with few exceptions, health care professionals may choose to prescribe or use an approved human drug for an unapproved use when they judge that the unapproved use is medically appropriate for an individual patient. If your health care provider writes you an ivermectin prescription, fill it through a legitimate source such as a pharmacy.
Dr. Bowden said the new website that came from her lawsuit is only a tiny victory.
“The FDA acknowledges physicians may prescribe medications off-label but also repeatedly states ivermectin is not approved for COVID and repeatedly warns about potential safety issues,” said Dr. Bowden. “They are lawfully allowed to do this, but these repetitive statements are meant to discourage the public from taking ivermectin.”
I asked Dr. Bowden if the new FDA language about humans was significant to her cause.
“They talk about humans but also discuss animals,” she replied. “I suppose if they focused all their attention on humans and left animals out of it, that would be significant. But they won’t let go of reminding the public about ivermectin’s use in animals.”
Bowden said 40% of medications are prescribed off-label, and the FDA does not speak out about them on social media. She said she can’t get her patients’ prescriptions for ivermectin filled at any major pharmacy chains because of the FDA’s campaign.
COVID Doctors Next Stand
Dr. Bowden joined Dr. Paul E. Marik and Dr. Robert L. Apter in filing suit against the government for interfering with both their authority to prescribe an approved medication and the doctor-patient relationship. They were represented by the prestigious Washington firm Boyden Gray and Associates.
They lost in district court, won at the appeals court level and then decided to drop the case after getting what they wanted. (To read more in depth, below are links to my exclusive reporting in this eight-part series.)
“We are not done fighting,” said Dr. Bowden. “We have three years of propaganda to reverse and must continue to fight pharmacists who use the FDA as an excuse to come between patients and their doctors.”
COVID Doctors’ Victory for Ivermectin, the 8-part series
This is the final part of my eight-part series about the doctors’ ivermectin lawsuit against the FDA. Catch up and get the original legal and medical sources here:
COVID Doctors sue FDA over Ivermectin: Lawsuit filed (June 2022)
Doctors fight FDA in court to use ivermectin for COVID patients: Federal district court hearing (Nov. 2022)
FDA Ivermectin Lawsuit Dismissed, COVID Doctors Appeal: Lawsuit dismissed and appealed (Dec. 2022)
FDA Says Doctors Can Prescribe Ivermectin for COVID in Federal Court Lawsuit: 5th Circuit Appeal hearing (Aug. 2023)
FDA Denies Ivermectin Approved for COVID (Aug. 2023)
'FDA is not a Physician' Federal Appeals Court Sides with Doctors on Ivermectin for COVID-19 (Sept. 2023)
FDA Loses Battle Over Ivermectin for COVID, To Take Down Horse Social Media: includes the settlement document for paid subscribers (March 2024)
Discusion Questions:
When I first reported on this lawsuit almost a year ago, did you think that Dr. Bowden and the other doctors could beat the FDA?
Do you see this as an encouraging sign or not to get the government out of the patient-doctor relationship and medical freedom?
I think there will be a lot more David and Goliath stories in the near future. It is an inspiration to all of us.
They got off really easy. Although it was stated that the FDA was not a physician, they didn't have to post that. FDA had spent years doing exactly that. I understand taking the high road, but overreach is overreact.