The measure, which the state Legislature passed earlier this year, went into law immediately on April 14.
Idaho has become the latest of a handful of states to legalize over-the-counter sales of the anti-parasite drug ivermectin following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, did not offer any comments on the bill, which was among
many measures he signed on April 14. The bill had been
passed with little resistance in the Idaho Legislature and took effect immediately.
In 2024, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a bill legalizing over-the-counter sales of the drug, as did Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee in 2022.
A readout of the bill introduced in the Idaho House of Representatives
says, in part, that ivermectin would be able to be used “without restriction or consultation” with a “health care professional,” and that it could also be sold over the counter, or “legally sold and purchased without a prescription.”
During the pandemic, some researchers touted ivermectin as a means to treat COVID-19, although federal health officials have said that the drug is not effective in treating the virus.
State Sen. Tammy Nichols, a Republican, presented the bill before the state Senate floor on April 3 and told local media outlets that it would eliminate a hurdle for consumers.
“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.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Kelly Anthon, a Republican who helped co-sponsor the bill, said ivermectin has a broad range of uses.
“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 hearing in early April.
“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.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 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.
The National Library of Medicine
says that authorities are also “concerned about the health of consumers who may self-medicate by taking ivermectin products intended for animals, thinking they can be a substitute for ivermectin intended for humans.” It also advises against people taking the medication without a health care provider and that it should be “obtained through a legitimate source.”
Officials note that ivermectin is generally prescribed for a type of roundworm known as threadworm as well as river blindness caused by a type of roundworm, head lice infestations, scabies, and other conditions.
A study released in June 2021
found that ivermectin 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.
A March 2022
study found that the drug was associated with decreased mortality as compared with remdesivir by analyzing a national federated database of adults aged 18 and older with a confirmed COVID-19 infection from January 2020 to July 2021.
The drug’s possible side effects
include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, loss of appetite, constipation, weakness, body shaking, chest discomfort, and more serious problems including rash, hives, itching, blistering or peeling skin, confusion, sleepiness, disorientation, and coma.
According to a drug database
website, there are more than 100 known interactions with ivermectin, including relatively commonly prescribed drugs such as warfarin, clarithromycin, mifepristone, and more. It also has a moderate
interaction with Paxlovid, the Pfizer-made drug to treat COVID-19.
