Should ivermectin be an OTC drug in Maine? Testimony to the Maine Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee
Regarding LD 890, " An Act to Permit the Dispensing of Ivermectin Pursuant to a Standing Order upon Request for COVID-19, Flu and Cancer Patients"
Testimony to the Maine Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services Committee regarding
Should ivermectin be an OTC drug in Maine?
1. What are other states doing?
· It is an OTC drug in Tennessee, Arkansas and Idaho already.
· New Hampshire voted to make it OTC but Governor Sununu vetoed it.
· During COVID, 28 states had bills to make it OTC
2. Have other countries made ivermectin an OTC drug?
Yes. Among those I could easily identify are Peru, Bolivia, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Brazil, Panama, South Africa, Mexico, India, Uganda, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria.
3. How widely used is ivermectin?
The drug has been distributed by Merck and the WHO in Africa and South America for parasitic diseases for 38 years. The Mectizan (brand name) Donation Program has alone delivered over 5 BILLION doses.
4. Did ivermectin really win a Nobel prize in 2015?
The 2 Merck scientists who discovered and developed ivermectin from a substance made by soil microorganisms jointly shared the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
5. Ivermectin is not safe when desperate humans buy OTC animal ivermectin and overdose themselves, simply because they were unable to get a prescription for human ivermectin.
· I treated several hundred patients with ivermectin during COVID. The only one to report side effects from it had treated himself with a horse-sized dose and became ill as a result.
· Apparently, this was not a rare occurrence. An article in Clinical Toxicology revealed that of 40 people who sought medical attention after using ivermectin, 18 had bought an animal version and overdosed themselves:
" A total of 40 patients who developed AEs following ivermectin use were reported to FACT over 15 months. Self-medication with veterinary formulations were reported in 18/40 patients "
6. The issue is whether the citizens of Maine should have access to a relatively safe drug that many believe is effective for COVID and possibly other diseases--but has been arbitrarily restricted and has become very expensive due to its scarcity.
· Making the drug OTC will lower the price considerably
· It will end peoples' purchases of (potentially dangerous) animal and overseas ivermectin
7. Are other drugs now OTC in Maine that were previously only available by prescription?
· Narcan (Naloxone), the antidote to opioid drug overdoses, was made an OTC drug by Maine's DHS.
· Not only that, Naloxone became free for MaineCare members.
· The state has made this drug available OTC for drug abusers to save their lives. Why not do the same with ivermectin, which many ordinary citizens believe saved their lives during COVID?
Less harmful than many otc drugs. It should absolutely be otc and cheap! But then, what would big harma do with all their "specialty" money trains when it's found that Ivermectin takes care of so many ailments?! They'll fight it tooth and nail, just like they did a few years ago!
A friend of mine lives in Tennessee and he tells me his pharmacist can't get it because the Pharmas won't sell it to him. I am hoping this is a short-run problem.
OTOH, anecdotally, we heard during the Covid terror that some pharmacists apparently refused to sell Ivermectin because they arrogated to themselves the right to make such decisions.
So, we will see.