Legislation filed this week would make a horse- and cow-deworming drug that sold out[1] amid disinformation during the pandemic available in Florida as an over-the-counter treatment for humans.
The antiparasitic drug, ivermectin[2], has limited uses for humans, according to the Mayo Clinic[3], including river blindness, intestinal infections from threadworms and other kinds of worm infections.
It can also be used topically for external parasites like lice and for skin conditions such as rosacea, according to the Food and Drug Administration, which has not approved[4] it to treat COVID.
On Tuesday, Spring Hill Republican Rep. Jeff Holcomb filed a bill (HB 29[5]) that would allow ivermectin to be legally sold and purchased without a prescription or consultation with a health care provider.
The measure, which does not yet have a Senate companion, would go into effect July 1.
It’s the second bill Holcomb filed for the coming Legislative Session. He did not fill out the “Why I Filed This Bill[6]” section of the bill page[7], as he had done[8] for legislation during the 2025 Session.
Florida Politics contacted Holcomb’s district and Capitol offices for comment, but received no response by press time.
Ivermectin made headlines in Florida and across the nation in 2021 as many Americans[9] wary of the COVID vaccine turned to the drug as an alternative treatment.
Some of that had to do with a misreading of clinical data. Early in the pandemic, lab experiments[10] showed ivermectin could inhibit COVID in cell culture. But the concentration required for it to be effective was found to be much higher than what is or feasible in humans, making its viability as a treatment option improbable.
Other trials found ivermectin did not reduce[11] hospitalization due to COVID and had no meaningful benefit[12] in shortening recovery time among adults with mild to moderate symptoms from the virus.
But authority figures and high-profile personalities nevertheless promoted ivermectin as something of a wonder-treatment, including podcast giant Joe Rogan[13] and Georgia police captain Joe Manning[14], who died after publicly flouting vaccine treatments and encouraging people to stock up on the drug.
U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican ophthalmologist from Kentucky, argued at the time that “hatred” for then-former President Donald Trump made researchers “unwilling to objectively study it[15]” as a COVID remedy. He tempered his comments with, “I don’t know if it works, but I keep an open mind.”
In August 2021, then-Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried announced that the livestock-aimed version of ivermectin had sold out[16] in Florida because people were using it instead of vaccines. At the time, Florida saw about one case a day of ivermectin-related poisoning[17].
Nearly a year earlier, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, whom Gov. Ron DeSantis later tapped to serve as Florida’s Surgeon General, published a research article[18] that was never peer-reviewed suggesting the use of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, another drug debunked as a COVID[19] remedy.
Ladapo announced this month that Florida will end all state vaccine mandates[20]. He later admitted that no scientific research or data[21] led to the decision.
Despite its limited applications for humans and the potential health risks of using it without a doctor’s guidance, several states have moved to ease access to the drug.
Several states — including Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, Tennessee and Texas — have passed laws this year permitting over-the-counter sales of ivermectin. Others are considering legislation to do the same.
And Trump’s head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has praised the move. Ahead of Texas’ approval of the change[22] this year, Kennedy praised it as a “really good bill[23]” and said that “Americans should have the choice” to use alternative remedies.
Discussions about other unproven uses for the drug continue. Early this year, actor Mel Gibson said during an appearance on Rogan’s podcast that three of his friends were cured of stage four cancer[24] after combining ivermectin with hydrochloride and fenbendazole, another antiparasitic medication primarily used by veterinarians.
No lobbyists have registered yet to discuss HB 29 with Holcomb and other lawmakers, House records[25] show.
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References
- ^ sold out (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ ivermectin (www.mayoclinic.org)
- ^ Mayo Clinic (www.mayoclinic.org)
- ^ not approved (www.fda.gov)
- ^ HB 29 (www.flhouse.gov)
- ^ Why I Filed This Bill (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ bill page (www.flhouse.gov)
- ^ as he had done (www.flhouse.gov)
- ^ many Americans (www.nytimes.com)
- ^ lab experiments (www.sciencedirect.com)
- ^ did not reduce (www.nejm.org)
- ^ no meaningful benefit (jamanetwork.com)
- ^ Joe Rogan (www.npr.org)
- ^ Joe Manning (news.yahoo.com)
- ^ unwilling to objectively study it (www.cincinnati.com)
- ^ sold out (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ ivermectin-related poisoning (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ research article (www.medrxiv.org)
- ^ debunked as a COVID (www.who.int)
- ^ end all state vaccine mandates (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ no scientific research or data (floridapolitics.com)
- ^ approval of the change (www.texastribune.org)
- ^ really good bill (www.texastribune.org)
- ^ cured of stage four cancer (www.newsweek.com)
- ^ House records (www.flhouse.gov)