Lawmakers back bill to make ivermectin available over-the-counter

State lawmakers have introduced the Ivermectin Access Act to make ivermectin available over the counter following national controversy regarding the drug during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

North Carolina lawmakers filed legislation on Monday that would make ivermectin accessible at pharmacies without a prescription. The legislation is sponsored by Reps. Jonathan Almond, R-Cabarrus, Jeff Zenger, R-Forsyth, Heather Rhyne, R-Lincoln, Neal Jackson, R-Moore, and Mitchell Setzer, R-Catawba.

“It’s a 60-year-old, Nobel Prize-winning drug, and I think it’s got a lot of potential benefits that not a lot of people know about,” said Almond. “I think we all saw the media apparatus and the medical industry come out during COVID and basically try to make everyone feel like they’re going to turn into a horse.”

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many sought the drug as a treatment option following viral reports of its efficacy and successful use by notable celebrities. The controversy emerged as public health officials denounced its use, despite evidence of its safe and effective use COVID and other conditions. The FDA settled a lawsuit last year over its social media posts against ivermectin. 

Ivermectin was developed in the 1970s, initially for animal use in combating internal and external parasites. Widely regarded as a “wonder drug,” it was shortly thereafter approved for human use and is today used as an anti-parasitic agent, as an anticancer agent, and more. Its developers won the Nobel Prize in 2015.

Almond called it a miracle drug that has been around for decades with promising results for health issues like COVID or cancer.

“I truly believe, because we were under the emergency use authorization, if there would have been another therapeutic that would have been proven to be useful at helping with COVID, they wouldn’t have been able to move forward with the development of a vaccine,” Almond said. 

The COVID-19 vaccine was approved under the FDA’s emergency-use authorization, which is only allowed if no other viable treatment options exist.

The General Assembly push comes just days after the Arkansas governor signed a bill into law legalizing over-the-counter ivermectin. Lawmakers in South Carolina and West Virginia are pushing similar bills this year that would also make ivermectin over the counter.  

According to a recent study, ivermectin prescriptions soared during COVID-19, with nearly three million COVID-related prescriptions issued from 2020 to 2023 totaling $272 million. Since it is no longer a patented drug, any company can manufacture it, resulting in lower treatment costs. 

The post Lawmakers back bill to make ivermectin available over-the-counter first appeared on Carolina Journal.