Ivermectin, a medicine used to treat parasitic worms, is being prescribed via telemedicine by a minority of physicians to treat COVID-19, despite FDA and CDC warnings against it, NPR reported Feb. 9.
Fueled by conspiracy theories, some people believe ivermectin to be a secret cure for COVID-19.
The FDA, National Institutes of Health, American Medical Association and two pharmaceutical societies discouraged the use of ivermectin for COVID-19, and many physicians and health systems refuse to prescribe it to patients seeking COVID-19 treatment.
But CDC data shows that in summer 2021, prescriptions for ivermectin were 24 times pre-pandemic levels — and when the omicron surge hit, the demand for ivermectin rose again.
The number of ivermectin prescriptions are coming from a small percentage of physicians, who often use telemedicine to write them. Some of these same physicians are promoting anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, according to Kolina Koltai, PhD, a misinformation researcher at the Seattle-based University of Washington.
"They're profiting off misinformation, using their medical expertise as currency," Dr. Koltai said in the report.