Enlarge / Ivermectin tablets arranged in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021. The US Food and Drug Administration warned Americans against taking ivermectin, a drug usually used on animals, as a treatment or prevention for COVID-19. (credit: Getty | Bloomberg)
The Kansas medical board is facing attacks from state lawmakers for investigating doctors who have prescribed the antiparasitic drug ivermectin to treat or prevent COVID-19. The drug, which is most often used in animals as a dewormer, is both unproven and unrecommended for use against COVID-19 in people.
Nevertheless, state lawmakers proposed a budget amendment that would strip the state medical board of funds to conduct such investigations. For now, the budget committee has settled on language that the medical board should “proceed with caution” in any such investigations—language intended to have a chilling effect. But the committee has signaled that it could revisit the plan to defund investigations, depending on the fate of a separate Senate bill.
That Senate bill is SB 381, which would specifically authorize doctors to prescribe off-label and unproven COVID-19 treatments—namely hydroxychloroquine sulfate and ivermectin. And it would force pharmacists to dispense the drugs, even if doing so is against their professional judgement. Additionally, the proposed legislation would bar medical and pharmacy boards from investigating doctors and pharmacists for the practice and require the boards to review any prior disciplinary actions that are related.
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