Three doctors are suing the US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) accusing it of interfering with their treatment for COVID-19 patients with ivermectin..FDA lawyer Isaac Belfer argued the suggestion that people stop taking what it called "the horse dewormer" was just a recommendation, as reported by WND News Center. .The lawsuit claims the FDA interfered with doctors' treatments for their patients, which violates the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and other laws. It is calling for the court to prohibit the FDA from providing guidance on whether ivermectin should or should not be used in the treatment of COVID-19. .In August 2021, the FDA posted a tweet mocking the human use of ivermectin as a treatment for COVID-19. ."You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Seriously, y'all. Stop it," read the tweet that included a link to an FDA article titled Why You Should Not Use Ivermectin to Treat or Prevent COVID-19. .Another FDA post warned the public: "Hold your horses, y'all. Ivermectin may be trending, but it still isn't authorized or approved to treat COVID-19." .Belfer argued the agency was merely telling people "why you should not take ivermectin to treat COVID-19." .“They did not say you may not do it; you must not do it. They did not say it’s prohibited or it’s unlawful. They also did not say doctors may not prescribe ivermectin.”.Despite ivermectin — an anti-parasitic drug that won a Nobel Prize in 2015 — being approved for human use for more than 30 years, it was initially used by vets to prevent and treat heartworm in animals. .Ivermectin was banned for use in the treatment of COVID-19 by hospitals and pharmacies in the US and Canada, though the FDA claims no responsibility for the bans. .The plaintiffs' attorney, Jared Kelson, said the FDA's actions "clearly convey that this is not an acceptable way to treat patients," adding labelling "ivermectin a horse medicine or horse de-wormer and promulgate the idea that it is only for animals," created a natural correlation that doctors prescribing it were "quack doctors." .He also argued the FDA maligned "a common drug that has been used for a very long time and has been dispensed in billions of doses." .Attorneys representing the physicians — which included Dr. Paul Marik — pointed to 93 randomized controlled trials as evidence the use of ivermectin has seen success around the world. .Marik — a former critical care doctor at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital and former professor of medicine who served as chair of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School — used ivermectin to treat COVID-19 patients in 2020..Following the FDA’s statements to stop the treatment protocol, Marik was advised by his medical school to remove references of the use of ivermectin from its web pages. Sentara also cited the FDAs messaging in a notice instructing hospitals to stop using ivermectin against COVID-19. Marik then sued Sentara in the fall of 2021, citing Virginia's Advanced Directive statute that gives patients the right to choose what treatment they want once a doctor determines it is an appropriate protocol. .“It’s one of the most famously safe drugs in the history of human medicine. And when people did exactly what the FDA said to ‘Stop it. Stop it with the ivermectin,’ I don’t understand how that would not be traceable back to the FDA,” said Kelson..The government is calling for the dismissal of the case arguing the injuries can't be linked to the FDA.
