House Bill Would Allow Doctors Prescribe Ivermectin to Some COVID Patients

(Des Moines, IA) — A bill advancing in the Iowa House would allow doctors to prescribe a medication used to treat parasites as an experimental treatment for COVID patients on a ventilator. Republican Representative Lee Hein of Montezuma said he sponsored the bill after learning two families wanted ivermectin used as a last resort treatment for a critically ill relative, but hospital policies prevented it. Both patients died of COVID complications. The FDA has authorized ivermectin tablets as treatment for worms in humans, but the agency says “currently available data” does not indicate ivermectin is effective in treating or preventing COVID. Democratic Representative Mary Mascher of Iowa City observed that a number of medical groups sent lobbyists to merely monitor subcommittee discussion of the bill. Mascher said, “there’s a lot of folks in the room…and I have heard no one in support of the bill.”