Idaho is set to become the latest state in the United States to allow anti-parasite drug ivermectin to be sold without a prescription after the state Legislature passed a measure.
Senate Bill 1211 was easily approved in the state Legislature on Friday and delivered that same day to Gov. Brad Little’s desk.
The bill, according to its text, “adds to existing law to provide that ivermectin may be sold or purchased without a prescription or consultation with a health care professional,” meaning it can be sold over the counter.
The bill passed 29–9 in the state Senate and 66–1 in the House.
Little has not publicly commented on whether he will sign the bill or not. The Epoch Times contacted the governor’s office for comment Sunday.
Sen. Tammy Nichols, a Republican, presented the bill on the floor on April 3. “We’re not mandating use, we’re not prescribing treatment, and we are not mandating that it be sold,” Nichols told KTVB-7. “What we’re doing with this bill is simple. We’re removing a barrier.”
A co-sponsor of the bill, Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon, a Republican, said that the drug has a wide range of applications.
“This is a drug that has had really immeasurable impacts on improving the lives of billions and billions of people throughout the world since it was discovered. It’s been called, in many places, a wonder drug,” Anthon told lawmakers in an Idaho Senate committee in on-camera remarks last week. “It’s been able to serve in treating and in many ways curing human diseases—treating parasites, worms in humans. And in most countries, it is legal over the counter.”
With the legislative action, Idaho became one of several states that have either passed or are considering a bill to deregulate the sale of ivermectin.
Earlier this year, Arkansas allowed the over-the-counter sale of ivermectin after the state Legislature passed a measure, which was signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. In 2022, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, also a Republican, signed a similar measure.
The drug became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic as some doctors and studies said it was effective in treating the virus, though U.S. health regulators have warned people not to take it for COVID-19.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has said that the agency has not cleared ivermectin to be used for COVID-19, while advising against people using forms of ivermectin intended for animals.
“The FDA has not determined that ivermectin is safe or effective for these indications,” the agency’s website says.
A study released in June 2021 found that ivermectin, however, was linked to “large reductions” in COVID-19 deaths. Among hospitalized COVID-19 patients, the risk of death was found to be 2.3 percent among those treated with the drug, compared to 7.8 percent for those who weren’t, according to the study.
A March 2022 study found that the drug was associated with decreased mortality as compared with remdesivir usage by analyzing a national federated database of adults aged 18 and older with a confirmed COVID-19 infection from January 2020 to July 2021.
Tom Ozimek contributed to this report.
