States Seek To Protect Access to Alternative COVID Therapeutics

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COLUMBUS, OH – The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill recently protecting individual access to Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) as “alternative” therapies for treating COVID-19. Under the bill, Ohio’s health departments and medical boards would have to increase distribution of the drugs to pharmacies, while health care practitioners would be banned from suppressing them. However, they would also be protected from any penalty for prescribing them as COVID-19 treatments.

HB 73, known as the “COVID-19 Health Care Professional-Patient Relationship Protection Act,” passed 73-17 and now heads to the Ohio Senate. The measure would allow patients in Ohio diagnosed with COVID-19 to use these treatments in an “off-label” manner since the drugs have not yet been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for treating the disease. The bill states the patient or patient’s representative must consent to the treatment, and that a health care provider must first deem it necessary or beneficial before these treatments can be administered.

The bill protects four listed drugs: Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug; HCQ, an anti-malarial treatment; Budesonide, a steroid; and Azithromycin, an antibacterial drug.