(Mike Osborne) — A purported COVID-19 curative given wider distribution by the GOP dominated Tennessee legislature this year was found to be largely ineffective against the illness by Vanderbilt University researchers.
During the 2022 General Assembly, state lawmakers considered three bills that would have made it easier for Tennesseans to acquire the drug ivermectin for the treatment of coronavirus.
One of those measures (HB2746) was approved by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee. The measure allows pharmacies statewide to sell ivermectin over the counter as long as the pharmacist first obtains a "non-patient-specific order" from a physician.
Ivermectin is an anti-parasitic medication that's been widely touted by conservatives as a COVID-19 cure.
However, a recently completed study by researchers at Vanderbilt and Duke universitiesfound that ivermectin did not lower the risk of hospitalization or death for virus positive patients.
The study did find that ivermectin may shorten the course of the illness by a few hours.
An emergency notification by the Centers for Disease control noted that Ivermectin is not authorized by the FDA for treatment of COVID-19. It also noted that abuse of the medication can result in serious health complications.
The Vanderbilt/Duke study involved just under 1600 individuals. The findings have not yet been peer reviewed.