Ivermectin coming to pharmacies for COVID treatment
Touted as a miracle COVID-19 cure by the vaccine-adverse but dismissed as “horse paste” and medical quackery by the scientific community, the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin will soon be more easily available for Tennesseans.
Gov. Bill Lee last week signed Senate Bill 2188, which allows doctors to prescribe, and certain pharmacists to sell, the human-designed form of the drug as a treatment for the novel coronavirus – something large, controlled scientific studies say doesn’t work for such infections.
Furthermore, pharmacies and doctors may recommend or dispense the drug without fear of a lawsuit or disciplinary action for doing so.
The drugs will not simply be sold over the counter, next to vitamins and aspirin. They must be first recommended by a doctor or by a pharmacist that has a cooperative agreement with a licensed prescriber, something known as a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement.
The law does not require insurers to cover the drug for COVID-19 treatment.
“Tennessee law already allows pharmacists to work directly with patients regarding certain medications, and this bill simply expands that capacity,” said Laine Arnold, spokeswoman for Gov. Bill Lee.
The bill’s co-sponsor, Sen. Frank Nicely said he has taken the drug himself and believes it’s an effective treatment. He added that he is not vaccinated for COVID-19 and has no plans to get the shots.
“I know a lot of people were taking it, and that a lot of people would go to the co-op and get it as a paste or an injectable,” Nicely said. “I just felt like it’d be a lot safer for people just to go to the drugstore to get it instead of going to a farm store and try to guess at the dosage and whether or not it’s pure enough for human use.”
The Tennessee Board of Pharmacy must now write rules about how the law will be implemented. The board is scheduled to take this issue up for the first time on May 10. It’s unclear how widely it will be available after that.
Representatives for the retail pharmacy chain CVS declined to comment at length about the law. Days before Gov. Lee’s signature on the new law, spokesman Matthew Blanchette said only: “We cannot comment on proposed legislation and any hypothetical change to our business practice.”
The Tennessean also reached out to about a half dozen privately owned area pharmacies for comment. Only one did.
“This is new territory for us,” said pharmacist Jeremy Joiner of Green Hills Pharmacy in Nashville. “We’ll be looking for guidance from our Board of Pharmacy before making any decisions.”
The federal Food and Drug Administration has not approved ivermectin for use against COVID-19 and warns that too much of it can lead to a long list of side effects, including nausea, low blood pressure, dizziness, seizures, coma and death.
It can also have dangerous reactions with some prescription drugs, including blood thinners, according to the FDA.
Supporters note that two scientists won the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for their work with ivermectin. Though, that work was related to anti-parasitic treatment, not its use on the coronavirus.
“We have seen plenty of studies that show it’s not a valid treatment for COVID,” said epidemiologist Leslie Waller of Nashville’s Metro Public Health Department. “I’ll just leave it at that.”
Ivermectin is currently approved for the treatment of certain conditions caused by parasitic worms and, as a topical drug, for head lice and for the skin condition, rosacea. It also has a wide range of veterinary uses, such as a dewormer for hoofed animals and for the prevention of heartworms in dogs.
The FDA cautions that people should particularly avoid the animal formulations of ivermectin, which are more highly concentrated for large mammals and have other ingredients that have not been tested on humans.
Even so, the drug has taken on a cult following among many consumers of social media, who are otherwise skeptical of the COVID-19 vaccines. Many false stories continue to circulate purporting to show the drug’s efficacy, despite the debunking efforts of factchecking groups.
Among those believers is Steven Provencher, of rural Knoxville, who bought ivermectin from a tractor supply store to treat his wife’s COVID-19. Both have diabetes and are at high risk of complications from the novel coronavirus.
Both are in their 60s and are vaccinated. He said his doctor wouldn’t prescribe ivermectin.
“She took the stuff that was in the horse paste, and it cleared up in about four days. I’m sure you don’t want to write that in your story,” Provencher said. “I’m looking to get some more now that it’s available for humans.”
He said he heard about ivermectin as a COVID treatment from listening to right-wing talk show host Alex Jones.
A Kaiser Family Foundation poll published last fall found that medical misinformation is flourishing on social media. Nearly eight in 10 respondents believe or are unsure of a number of common myths about the COVID-19 vaccines and other treatments, the survey found.
Nearly one in seven believe that ivermectin is a safe and effective treatment for COVID-19, according to the poll. Another 14% were unsure.
Such beliefs make it difficult for health agencies to provide the public with accurate information on the pandemic, Anthony Fauci, the Biden administration’s lead pandemic advisor told The Tennessean.
“I think we are, unfortunately, in a situation where there’s no accountability for people lying and talking about things that absolutely make no sense,” Fauci said. “I don’t have a solution for that, except that we need some sort of check on what egregiously false, misleading and often dangerous information is spread on social media.”
Frank Gluck is the health care reporter for The Tennessean. He can be reached at fgluck@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Frankgluck.
“I just felt like it’d be a lot safer for people just to go to the drugstore to get it instead of going to a farm store and try to guess at the dosage and whether or not it’s pure enough for human use.”
Sen. Frank Nicely
Co-sponsor of ivermectin bill