The state’s surgeon general, who is in charge of the Department of Health, said he backs the measure to sell the anti-parasite drug without prescription.
The Louisiana Legislature this week advanced a bill that would allow for ivermectin to be sold in pharmacies in the state without a prescription.
The state Senate
passed a measure, SB19, in a 28-8 vote on April 30, sending the bill to the state House. Both chambers are controlled by Republicans, and the governor, Jeff Landry, is also a Republican.
According to the
text of the bill, it “authorizes a pharmacist to dispense ivermectin to a person 18 or older pursuant to a standing order issued” by the Department of Health, while also requiring that the health agency adopt rules around dispensing the drug.
The law also would provide “immunity for pharmacists dispensing ivermectin in accordance with proposed law” and would stipulate that a “health insurance issuer is not required to provide coverage for the cost of ivermectin dispensed pursuant to proposed law,” according to the bill’s text.
It means that a pharmacist can dispense the anti-parasite drug to anyone aged 18 and older, and they will not need a prescription beforehand, making it an over-the-counter medication.
State Surgeon General Ralph Abraham, who is in charge of the state Department of Health, said that he backs the measure, which was introduced by state Sen. Mike Fesi, a Republican.
“Making Ivermectin over the counter will ensure access to the human form of the medication in safe dosing from a pharmacy for its varied uses,” he
wrote in a post on X earlier this week. “‘Off-label’ use is a well-established practice. It is understood that many drugs, once FDA-approved, will be used to treat other conditions and diseases that were not tested for in the trial.”
The Republican attorney general said that “without off-label use, we would not have eye drops after cataract surgery or ibuprofen for migraines,” which “deserves further protection in law.”
“We support the passage of the bill—not because we believe ivermectin is some sort of miracle pill for all that ails you, but primarily because we believe medical decision-making occurs within the sacred doctor-patient relationship free from third-party interference to the maximum possible degree,” Abraham added.
Fesi, the state senator, told the New Orleans Times-Picayune in an article published Friday that he and his entire family took ivermectin after contracting COVID-19, and saw positive results.
“When I caught COVID, I took ivermectin for two days, got better quickly. My whole family took ivermectin,” he said. “I think it’s important for us to get it over-the-counter.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat the virus increased significantly. Ivermectin use increased dramatically throughout 2020 and 2021,
said researchers in a study released by the University of California–Los Angeles earlier this year.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has
said that it has not authorized ivermectin for use against COVID-19 and that it has received multiple reports of people using ivermectin that was designed for animals. The agency said that it has seen no evidence to suggest that ivermectin, which is approved as an anti-parasitic medication, is effective against COVID-19.
Meanwhile, some studies have
shown that ivermectin has led to positive
outcomes for some people who took the drug for COVID-19, including one study that
found it led to “large reductions” in deaths from the virus.
Tennessee, Idaho, and Arkansas have
passed similar bills to allow for the over-the-counter sale of ivermectin.
