Doctors in the US are free to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19, a lawyer representing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in August 2023. Ashley Cheung Honold, a Department of Justice lawyer representing the FDA, said during oral arguments on Aug. 8, 2023 in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit;
FDA explicitly recognizes that doctors do have the authority to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID.
Indeed the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is claiming in federal court that it never told doctors not to prescribe ivermectin to treat COVID-19. Federal judges aren't buying it, and state medical boards that rely heavily on FDA guidance continue to investigate doctors for such prescriptions.
Echoing a federal district judge nine months ago, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals pressed a Justice Department lawyer to reconcile the FDA's repeated public denunciations of ivermectin as an off-label COVID treatment with its insistence that the agency is not liable for resulting investigations of doctors who prescribe or promote it.
The case was brought by three doctors who allege the FDA unlawfully interfered with their practice of medicine with the statements. A federal judge dismissed the case in 2022, prompting an appeal. Jared Kelson, representing the doctors, told the appeals court;
The fundamental issue in this case is straightforward. After the FDA approves the human drug for sale, does it then have the authority to interfere with how that drug is used within the doctor-patient relationship? The answer is no.
The 5th Circuit panel seemed sceptical of Civil Division Appellate Attorney Ashley Honold's argument that the FDA's "informational statements" against ivermectin, including its conflation of human and animal dosages, were "merely quips" about reported problems after "self-medicating" rather than "prohibit[ing] anyone" from using ivermectin.
The FDA on Aug. 21, 2021, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y’all. Stop it.” The post, which linked to an FDA page that says people shouldn’t use ivermectin to prevent or treat COVID-19, went viral. Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod cited the phrase "Stop it" in the agency's viral "You are not a horse" post on X, then known as Twitter;
If you were in English class, they would say that was a command. … That is different than “we're providing helpful information”.
Furthermore, Honold couldn't provide Elrod with specific evidence that the FDA had conducted a review of ivermectin in the COVID context before making its comments admitting;
I don't think there's anything in the record that specifically tracks FDA's process.
The plaintiffs are Drs. Paul Marik, Mary Bowden, and Robert Apter. They all say they were professionally harmed by the FDA’s statements, including being terminated over efforts to prescribe ivermectin to patients. Dr. Marik has noted that a large number of studies support using ivermectin against COVID-19, as the FDA itself has acknowledged.
Honold argued in court that a ruling in favour of the doctors would prevent the FDA from reporting on consumers suffering after cooking chicken with NyQuil or that opioid addiction is a problem, she claimed. Further she claimed that the courts can’t hold agencies accountable when they provide false or misleading information:
The FDA is politically accountable, just like all other executive agencies.
This was countered by Mr. Kelson who said that wasn’t accurate;
It’s when they step beyond that [and] start telling people how they should or should not be using approved drugs.
The Federation of State Medical Boards members have launched several investigations against doctors for prescribing or promoting ivermectin for COVID. The federation's Texas member filed a formal complaint this year against one of the plaintiffs, Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, for unprofessional conduct for allegedly prescribing "medication" to a patient she had not examined at a hospital where she didn't have admitting privileges.
The patient had sued the hospital to let Bowden give him ivermectin. A Texas appellate court held in 2021 that the hospital was not required to let Bowden administer ivermectin. Houston Methodist earlier suspended Bowden for sharing "dangerous information" including qualified support for ivermectin.
Last month four doctors sued the Washington Medical Commission for adopting a "position statement" on purported COVID misinformation, "with limited notice" and no "opportunity for public comment," that the commission is now using "as an enforceable rule" without following required procedures.
Three of those doctors, two of whom live in Washington and one in Idaho, are under investigation for charges including prescribing and promoting ivermectin for COVID, according to MedPage Today. The fourth, who lives in Idaho, gave up her Washington license "under duress" this year for fear of investigation due to "speaking out against certain COVID public policies," especially vaccinating healthy children, the lawsuit says.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said, questioning the FDA's sudden redefinition of what constitutes "merely quips" as opposed to a federal agency's directives;
Doctors who had the courage and compassion to treat COVID patients believe hundreds of thousands of Americans died needlessly [because the FDA] sabotaged the use of cheap, safe, and effective generic drugs.
The case is ongoing.