Joe Rogan argues with Dr. Sanjay Gupta after CNN host said he took ‘horse dewormer’ for COVID

Joe Rogan has forced CNN’s chief medical correspondent into admitting that the network should never have described his Ivermectin COVID treatment as a ‘horse de-wormer’. 

Dr Sanjay Gupta appeared on the star’s Spotify podcast on Wednesday to discuss Ivermectin’s use as a COVID-19 treatment and after a tense back-and-forth, Gupta eventually agreed that the anti-parasite drug, which was prescribed to Rogan by a doctor, should never have been repeatedly described on CNN as a horse de-wormer. 

Former UFC commentator and Spotify star, Rogan, 54, drew criticism from Dr Anthony Fauci when he revealed he took the anti-parasite drug in an Instagram video last month. 

Studies have shown that Ivermectin decreases viral loads and may prevent COVID deaths, but the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control recommend against using it for COVID, saying better studies are needed. The FDA went so far as to issue a snarky tweet telling people: ‘You are not a horse, you are not a cow. Seriously, y’all, stop it’.   

Joe Rogan and CNN’s Dr Sanjay Gupta debated the coverage of the anti-parasite drug Ivermectin

Rogan slammed the network for ‘lying’ by saying he took ‘horse de-wormer,’ despite the fact that his Ivermectin pills, which are used widely around the world, were prescribed by a doctor

Gupta seemed overwhelmed by Rogan’s line of questioning: ‘We’re going so fast’

Rogan recovered last month after what he called a ‘kitchen sink’ approach.

On Wednesday’s episode of The Joe Rogan Experience, he repeatedly pressed Gupta on his coworkers’ claims that he took animal drugs.  

‘Calling it a horse de-wormer is not the most flattering thing, I get that,’ Gupta said.

‘It’s a lie,’ Rogan responded. 

‘It’s a lie on a news network … and it’s a lie that they’re conscious of. It’s not a mistake. They’re unfavorably framing it as veterinary medicine.’

Gupta pointed to what he called a ‘snarky’ tweet by the FDA telling people they are ‘not a horse,’ seemingly comparing it to his CNN colleague’s statements.  

‘Why would you say that when you’re talking about a drug that’s been given out to billions and billions of people? A drug that was responsible for one of the inventors winning the Nobel Prize in 2015?

‘A drug that has been shown to stop viral replication in vitro – you know that, right? Why would they lie and say that’s horse de-wormer? I can afford people medicine, motherf*****. This is ridiculous,’ Rogan said, prompting Gupta to laugh. 

Gupta seemed to compare his CNN colleague’s assertions to the above tweet by the FDA

Ivermectin, available in human and animal concentrations, is used by 250 million people a year. Studies show it helps reduce viral load, but health experts say more research is needed

Ivermectin is available over-the-counter for horses, though health authorities have warned against humans taking the larger animal concentrations.  

Rogan went on to criticize mainstream media for pushing a false narrative about Ivermectin, a broad-spectrum, anti-parasitic ‘wonder drug’ taken by 250 million people a year, according to a 2015 Nobel lecture.

‘It’s just a lie, but don’t you think a lie like that is dangerous on a news network, when you know that they know they’re lying?’ Rogan asked. 

Gupta seemed overwhelmed: ‘We’re going so fast.’

‘Dude, they lied and said I was taking horse de-wormer,’ Rogan shot back. ‘First of all, it was prescribed to me by a doctor along with a bunch of other medications.’

Gutpa conceded: ‘If you got a human pill – because there are people that were taking the veterinary medication, and you’re not, obviously, you got it from a doctor – so it shouldn’t be called that.

‘Ivermectin can be a very effective medication for parasitic disease and, as you say, it’s probably a quarter billion people have taken it around the world.’

‘More, way more. Billions of people have taken it,’ Rogan said.  

‘Does it bother you that the network you work for out and lied, just outright lied about me taking horse de-wormer?’ Rogan asked point-blank.

‘They shouldn’t have said that,’ Gupta finally admitted. 

‘Why did they do that?’ Rogan asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Gupta said.

‘You didn’t ask? You’re the medical guy over there,’ Rogan charged.

‘I didn’t ask, I should have asked before coming on the podcast,’ Gupta said.

Gupta, 51, is a practicing neurosurgeon and professor at Emory Healthcare in Atlanta. He attended the University of Michigan medical school and joined CNN in 2001.

The CNN correspondent’s talk with Rogan started out on fairly friendly terms, with Gupta telling Rogan he was ‘glad’ that he was better. 

‘Thank you,’ Rogan responded. ‘You’re probably the only one at CNN who’s glad … The rest of them are all lying about me taking horse medication.’

‘That bothered you,’ Gupta said.

‘It should bother you too,’ Rogan shot back. ‘They’re lying at your network about people taking human drugs versus drugs for veterinary.’

Last month, Rogan announced he fell ill on August 28, during the Florida leg of his live tour. He told his Instagram followers that he took Ivermectin along with monoclonal antibodies, Z-pack antibiotics and a vitamin drip for three days and that he felt great.

The announcement kicked off a flurry of criticism for the popular podcaster, who signed a deal with streaming service Spotify worth a reported $100 million last year. 

Dr Fauci, Biden’s medical advisor, went on CNN and said that Rogan took the ‘livestock de-wormer ivermectin,’ adding that it ‘doesn’t have any effect on COVID, obviously,’ according to Yahoo News.

US COVID infections are up from early summer, largely due to the aggressive Delta variant

Rogan has made controversial comments criticizing vaccines and coronavirus lockdown measures. In a video last month, above, he said he caught COVID while performing in Florida

Fauci also called Rogan ‘one of the enemies of public health.’ 

Rogan has previously railed against vaccines and vaccine mandates, saying that young and healthy people don’t need to be jabbed. On Wednesday, he also revealed that he was nearly vaccinated in Las Vegas a few months ago but missed his appointment, according to Newsweek.

Ivermectin was discovered from soil samples collected in Japan by microbiologist Satoshi Ōmura in 1970, according to the journal Trends in Parasitology. 

He won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015 along with American biologist William C. Campbell of the pharmaceutical company Merck.

The Nobel committee wrote: ‘Its impact on improving the overall health and welfare of hundreds of millions of men, women and children, mostly in poor and impoverished communities, remains unmatched. 

‘It continues to defy many preconceived concepts, with no drug resistance developing in humans despite years of extensive monotherapy. Tis has led to it being included on the World Health Organization’s “List of Essential Medicines,” a compilation of the most important medications needed in any basic health system.’

An August 21 article in the American Journal of Therapeutics concluded that ‘using ivermectin early in the clinical course may reduce numbers progressing to severe disease. The apparent safety and low cost suggest that ivermectin is likely to have a significant impact on the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic globally.’

The CDC says more ‘adequately sized, well-designed, and well-conducted clinical trials are needed’ before recommending Ivermectin for coronavirus.

Top Ivermectin expert says the drug does not treat COVID-19 

Dr. Timothy Geary, one of the world’s foremost experts of Ivermectin, says the drug does not have any effectiveness fighting viruses.

Geary, who is the Research Chair in Parasite Biotechnology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, says that the 2020 study which spawned much of the Ivermectin-craze is not being correctly read.

Dr Timothy Geary (pictured) is one of the top experts on ivermectin and has researched the drug for  over a decade

He told DailyMail.com that the study did show that Ivermectin could inhibit the replication of COVID-19 virus cells, which is what many are reading from the study that makes them believe the drug has virus killing properties.

Geary explained, though, that the concentration of the drug used in the study were so high that it could not be used for treatment in a human, and would likely cause an overdose.

‘In that study they showed that in cell cultures, Ivermectin could inhibit [Covid] replication, but the concentrations required for that effect were in a range called the micromolar range – very high concentrations relative to what you would find in the plasma of a treated person or an animal, which would be 20 to 50 times lower.’

He does not see too much harm in people using the drug in human-sized doses, though, as Geary assures that it is safe for consumption.

It is safe to use in doses of around 200 micrograms, and even people who are using it to incorrectly treat Covid are unlikely to suffer any major symptoms.

‘There’s no significant toxicity from those doses,’ Geary says.

He also mentioned that the drug has been used billions of times in between humans and animals, and has never shown any ability to combat viruses outside of the laboratory.

The typical Ivermectin prescribed by doctors com in pill form in small doses

But many Americans are facing problems with Ivermectin because they are not using the versions of the drug prescribed by doctors.

Instead, many are finding their own over-the-counter solutions, most notably going to local feed stores and buying medicine meant for horses, cows and sheep.

Prescribed versions of the drug come in pill form, while these versions are liquid.

The dosages are also much larger, meant for an animal that can weigh over 1,000 pounds, not a person that can weight less than one-fifth of that.

Taking doses too large can cause a person to have nausea, body pains, diarrhea limb swelling and other serious side effects.

In more serious cases, a person could overdose and suffer severe damage to their central nervous system, and potentially even die.