View source for 2021/07/28/Why is the FDA attacking a safe effective drug

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[[title/short::Why is the FDA attacking a safe effective drug?]]
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* '''when''': [[when posted::2021-07-28]]
* '''author''': [[author::David R. Henderson]] and [[author::Charles L. Hooper]]
* '''source''': [[source::Wall Street Journal]]
* '''topics''': [[topic::ivermectin]]
* '''keywords''': [[content type::editorial]]
* '''link''': [[URL::https://www.wsj.com/articles/fda-ivermectin-covid-19-coronavirus-masks-anti-science-11627482393]]
* '''title''': [[title::Why Is the FDA Attacking a Safe, Effective Drug?]]
* '''summary''': [[Summary::{{fmt/quote|The [[US/FDA|Food and Drug Administration]] claims to follow the science. So why is it attacking [[ivermectin]], a medication it certified in 1996?}} Short Answer: It isn't, and this opinion-piece is stuffed full of misleading claims.]]

'''Short Answer''': The FDA is not attacking the drug. It's trying to warn people against taking animal-approved formulations of it (which has been happening due to the influence of articles like this) for a purpose for which the drug has not yet been shown to be safe and effective. Many studies are under way &ndash; but the data have not yet come in, and the FDA is acting entirely appropriately in that light.
==Links==
* '''2021-08-02''' [https://www.biznews.com/thought-leaders/2021/08/02/ivermectin-attack-fda Attack on Ivermectin – With insights from The Wall Street Journal] by Jarryd Neves: no, the piece was not written by the WSJ; it was an outside editorial.
* '''2021-07-29'''
** [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRFnBITJZoA Misleading and Dishonest Wall Street Journal Article on Ivermectin] (video) by [[Hank Green]]
** [https://www.econlib.org/how-scientific-is-the-fda/ How Scientific is the FDA?] by David Henderson, one of the authors of the WSJ piece
===Discussion===
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/ivermectin/comments/ouirlp/wsj_why_is_the_fda_attacking_a_safe_effective_drug/ Reddit]
* Hacker News:
** [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28054862 2021-08-03] "Bullshit article. the FDA isn't attacking, they're pointing out that a drug certified for treating roundworm and similar parasitic infections is not certified for treating COVID-19, and that relying on it for that purpose might turn out badly. / From the headline onwards, this whole article is [[concern trolling]]..."
** [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28011272 2021-07-30] "In Brazil, there are people needing liver transplantation because they used Ivermectin to "treat" Covid."
* [https://twitter.com/pbhushan1/status/1420667264076898306?lang=en Prashant Bushan on Twitter] "Ivermectin is a promising Covid treatment and prophylaxis, but the agency is denigrating it. / No doubt that FDA is acting under the influence of big Pharma and vaccine companies." Um, there is no evidence for this at all.