On Thursday evening, the Idaho legislature sent a bill to Gov. Brad Little (R-ID) to make ivermectin an over-the-counter medicine in drugstores. 

Idaho is one of a handful of states that has passed or is considering legislation to deregulate the sale of ivermectin. The drug rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic after speculation that it was effective in treating the novel virus.

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The legislation, Idaho Senate Bill 1211, would allow ivermectin, which is most commonly used in the United States to treat animal parasitic infections, to be sold without a physician’s prescription or consultation with a healthcare professional.

According to local news outlets, Republican lawmakers in the state, during debates over the bill, leaned on rhetoric from activists and alternative-medicine professionals that ivermectin is a cure-all drug. 

Other supporters of the bill argued that it would allow patients to get the drug with basic instructions for human dosage, preventing them from resorting to obtaining the medication from farm supply stores, which only have information on using the drug to treat animals.

Despite its negative reputation associated with the pandemic, ivermectin has been used safely for humans since the late 1970s to treat parasitic infections, particularly in the tropics.

Discovered in Japan, ivermectin has been described as a “wonder drug” for treating onchocerciasis, or river blindness, which affects an estimated 15 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. 

Ivermectin is also used to treat elephantiasis, another highly debilitating disease that affects about 51 million globally, a 74% decline since the start of WHO’s ivermectin treatment program in 2000.

The Food and Drug Administration acknowledged that ivermectin is a first-line treatment for these and certain other parasitic conditions. However, agency scientists have not cleared ivermectin for treating COVID-19, a viral infection.

“The FDA has not authorized or approved ivermectin for the treatment or prevention of COVID-19 in people or animals,” says the FDA’s website as of 2024. “The FDA has not determined that ivermectin is safe or effective for these indications.” 

Ivermectin also has serious drug interactions with 51 other medications, including commonly used antibiotics, cholesterol and heart medications, and other over-the-counter antihistamines, according to pharmacists who have spoken out against the deregulation bill.

The deregulation bill passed in the Senate with all 29 Republican votes against 5 Democrats and one abstention. Only one Democrat in the state House voted against the bill, which gained 66 supporters.

Democratic Idaho state Rep. Steve Berch, the sole House holdout against the legislation, told the Idaho Capital Sun later Thursday night that he voted against the legislation because deregulating medication “is not the job of the legislature,” which has no physicians or pharmacists among its members. 

Idaho is not alone in its quest to deregulate ivermectin. 

Arkansas allowed the over-the-counter sale of ivermectin last month with legislation signed by Gov. Sara Huckabee Sanders (R-AR). Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN) signed a similar piece of legislation in April 2022, and North Carolina’s legislature is currently considering an ivermectin deregulation bill.

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Little has five days, excluding Sundays, to decide whether to sign or veto the legislation. If he does nothing, the bill will become law without his signature. 

If enacted with or without Little’s assent, the law will take effect immediately through an emergency clause.