A bill to allow over-the-counter sales of ivermectin was signed by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday.
The law was a relatively popular bill when it moved through its final steps in the state legislature last week. Lawmakers almost described ivermectin as a magical mystery drug; they seemed to both believe it could cure COVID-19 and that its effects on the virus need to be studied further.
A controversial drug
Ivermectin wasn't well known or often used inside the United States until the COVID-19 pandemic. Before that, it was a groundbreaking anti-parasite drug.
Ivermectin was originally discovered as a bacterial culture in dirt samples by a Japanese biochemist. This was in the mid-70s, and it was a major scientific breakthrough, winning the scientist the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Initially, ivermectin was used on animals, but in the 1980s it was approved for human use. Ivermectin is still used worldwide to help people infected by parasitic worms or head lice.
The science connecting it to COVID-19 is dubious. Health agencies in the US, the UK and the EU have been pretty consistent that the drug does not cure or help with COVID. A BBC investigation looked into the studies of the drug on COVID, finding a third of the studies had major fraud while the other two-thirds were determined to not prove anything.
There are doctors who dispute this, but they are on the fringes of the medical community. There is a group called Independent Medical Alliance that advocates for the use of the drug.
The Arkansas law
The sponsors of the legislation were Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, and Rep. Mary Bentley, R-Perryville. Clark even brought with him what looked like a yellow and red can of ivermectin to a committee meeting. It’s unclear whether his can actually contained the drug.
One argument they made is that ivermectin is not as deadly as other over-the-counter drugs. In a sense this is true, but ibuprofen and acetaminophen have very low rates of overdose deaths, and generally people who have died from taking too much ibuprofen did so intentionally. Far fewer people have died from ivermectin, but it's far less commonly used.
In committee, Clark brought up a National Institutes of Health statistic that said 55 people died from the COVID vaccine. The data is more complicated; the NIH specifies 17 of those deaths were later ruled out as being caused by the vaccine. That leaves us with about 30 that were either “possibly” or “probably” caused by the vaccine. This is out of the over 270 million people in America who got the shot, which has been proven to be safe and effective by reputable medical organizations.
Clark said there were probably more people who died from the vaccine that we don't know about, but there is no evidence to prove that. For Clark, his support for the law had to do with the way he looks at medicine.
“I'm more trusting of my constituents' and friends' common sense than I am of the medical industry at the moment,” he said.
The idea that there is a medical-industrial complex pushing vaccines is a common talking point from skeptics. But it was a unanimous vote in the Senate, with several Democrats voting in favor of the bill.
Bentley made similar arguments in the House. She said people are already buying the drug, and that it's safer to make it over-the-counter. Bentley referenced one place in particular where Arkansans could purchase the drug.
“I bet many of your constituents are going to the co-op,” she said.
Several times she referenced the drug’s popularity at agricultural co-ops, where ivermectin is sold for veterinary use.
She did mistakenly say the drug received the Nobel Peace Prize, which it did not. It received the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. And again that went to the scientists who discovered the drug, not the drug itself. They won for parasite treatment, not for anything related COVID-19, a disease which did not yet exist.
Bentley says she begged doctors to give her terminally ill father ivermectin; according to her, they refused and he died two days later. Meanwhile, Bentley said her sick mother would take the drug and come out fine. Two other legislators said they took ivermectin and think it may have contributed to their recoveries from COVID.
Bentley brought along a guest named Brock Thompson, who intimated that he was a doctor but gave a more detailed resume when pressed by Rep. Jeff Wardlaw, R-Hermitage. Thompson then said he was a “regular guy” who had “read some studies.” He said he had once worked in medical device sales where he “did not touch patients.”
He went on to say he had spoken to physicians who didn't feel safe speaking on the benefits of ivermectin, scared they could lose their insurance coverage.
Two physicians in the House, Rep. Stephen Magie, D-Conway, and Rep. Lee Johnson, R-Greenwood, both expressed skepticism that this is happening, saying they regularly prescribe things off-label with no problems.
Magie said his vote against the bill had nothing to do with the efficacy of the drug.
“I don't see anything in here that says you've got to go to a pharmacy,” he said. “They can just buy it off the shelf at Walmart. I just think there needs to be some guardrails in it.”
The Food and Drug Administration says to be careful, especially taking ivermectin in large amounts or with other drugs like blood thinners.
