🥳 In Idaho, ivermectin can be sold over the counter — after Gov. Little signs bill
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill to let ivermectin be sold as an over-the-counter medicine — without a prescription or consultation with a health care professional.
Typically used to treat parasites in humans, ivermectin has drawn interest since the COVID pandemic — after largely conservative activists, doctors and politicians inaccurately touted it as an alternative medicine.
Usually, the U.S. Food and Drug and Administration, or FDA, handles whether drugs should be made available over-the-counter, a process that uses data on safety and effectiveness.
The FDA hasn’t approved ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19, saying the federal agency finds existing clinical trial data don’t show “ivermectin is effective against COVID-19 in humans.” The federal regulator’s website also warns large doses of ivermectin “can be dangerous,” overdose can risk death, and human-appropriate doses can interact with other medications, such as blood thinners.
Little on Monday signed Senate Bill 1211, the ivermectin deregulation bill, according to the governor office’s legislation tracker. The new law takes effect immediately — through an emergency clause.
Passed during the last week of this year’s legislative session, Idaho lawmakers didn’t hear public feedback on the bill from doctors, pharmacists or health care professionals.
🥳 In Idaho, ivermectin can be sold over the counter — after Gov. Little signs bill
Idaho Gov. Brad Little signed into law a bill to let ivermectin be sold as an over-the-counter medicine — without a prescription or consultation with a health care professional.
Typically used to treat parasites in humans, ivermectin has drawn interest since the COVID pandemic — after largely conservative activists, doctors and politicians inaccurately touted it as an alternative medicine.
Usually, the U.S. Food and Drug and Administration, or FDA, handles whether drugs should be made available over-the-counter, a process that uses data on safety and effectiveness.
The FDA hasn’t approved ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19, saying the federal agency finds existing clinical trial data don’t show “ivermectin is effective against COVID-19 in humans.” The federal regulator’s website also warns large doses of ivermectin “can be dangerous,” overdose can risk death, and human-appropriate doses can interact with other medications, such as blood thinners.
Little on Monday signed Senate Bill 1211, the ivermectin deregulation bill, according to the governor office’s legislation tracker. The new law takes effect immediately — through an emergency clause.
Passed during the last week of this year’s legislative session, Idaho lawmakers didn’t hear public feedback on the bill from doctors, pharmacists or health care professionals.
I am directing the FDA commissioner to start the process of changing the rules to eliminate the self-affirmed GRAS pathway for new ingredients. I am also calling on the @US_FDA and @NIH continue to conduct and improve post-market assessments of GRAS chemicals currently in our food so we can rapidly identify the compounds that are making Americans so sick, and so that American consumers and regulators can make informed decisions. This is an important step in our pursuit to Make America Healthy Again.
