A proposal to allow Texas pharmacists to dispense ivermectin without a prescription was heard in the House Public Health Committee on Monday.
House Bill 3219 by State Rep. Joanne Shofner (R–Nacogdoches) would direct the commissioner of the Department of State Health Services to issue a standing order authorizing pharmacists to dispense the drug without requiring a doctor’s prescription. The bill is substantively identical to legislation previously filed by State Rep. Wes Virdell (R–Brady).
“Ivermectin is a safe, affordable drug with minimal side effects,” said Shofner. “By allowing pharmacists to dispense ivermectin over the counter, we can assure that proper labeling and dosage instructions are provided so that there’s minimal risk of side effects.”
First developed in the 1970s as an anti-parasitic, ivermectin gained widespread attention during the COVID-19 pandemic after some doctors reported success using it off-label to treat the virus. Despite being approved for human use by the FDA in 1987, the drug became the subject of political and media pushback after federal agencies, including the FDA, discouraged its use against COVID.
Shofner noted that ivermectin remains widely used in developing nations, where it is often administered by non-medical staff with basic dosage training.
“This is not going to be next to Tylenol or Pepto Bismol on the shelf,” she clarified during the hearing. “This will be with the pharmacist, and they are required to give out the proper instructions on dosage amounts.”
Shofner also laid out a committee substitute to the bill, which adds liability protections for the DSHS commissioner—something Shofner said the agency requested.
Michelle Evans, political director of Texans for Vaccine Choice, testified in support of the bill, saying it would empower both patients and pharmacists.
“Often [ivermectin prescriptions] were denied out of fear of being reported to the Texas State Board of Pharmacy or Texas Medical Board,” said Evans. “In one case, the denial of ivermectin treatment—even after a court ordered that it should be administered—resulted in the death of a Texas man.”
Evans also pointed to the work of Houston-based Dr. Mary Talley Bowden, who treated thousands of COVID-19 patients using ivermectin and studied its dosage.
“She found the lethal or toxic level to be 11 to 82 times greater than what she used in COVID treatment,” said Evans. “And she couldn’t find any evidence in the medical literature of accidental or intentional ivermectin overdoses.”
Opposition to the bill came from the Texas Medical Association. Dr. Zeke Silva, a radiologist testifying on behalf of TMA, warned that removing the physician-patient relationship from the prescribing process poses safety risks.
“There needs to be a physician-patient relationship any time a medication is administered,” said Silva. “You could imagine a scenario where [ivermectin] interacts with another medication, in this case Warfarin, that might lead to a bleeding complication. Neurotoxicity is one we think about very seriously.”
Silva said TMA’s opposition is based not on ivermectin specifically, but on the importance of preserving medical oversight when dispensing prescription medications.
If passed into law, Texas wouldn’t be the first—Arkansas, Tennessee, and Idaho have already passed laws allowing ivermectin to be dispensed over the counter without a prescription.
The bill was left pending in committee.
