Ivermectin Rules Finally Ready

In 2022, Senate Bill 2188 was passed by the General Assembly, making Tennessee the first, and so far the only, state in the United States to allow the Nobel Prize winning human drug Ivermectin to be sold over-the-counter without a prescription from a pharmacist who chooses to participate in the new law.

Read the Ivermectin Law, Public Chapter 908.

The law took effect on April 22, 2022, and since then dozens of pharmacists across the state have have been selling ivermectin, following the collaborative agreement instructions in the law.

A list of those pharmacies can be found HERE.

The 2022 law required the TN Board of Pharmacy to promulgate rules to guide pharmacists in following the new law. Fortunately, pharmacists did not have to wait for the rules to be finalized before selling ivermectin because it took nearly two years.

On Monday, February 26, the TN Board of Pharmacy at last presented their final rules regarding the sale of ivermectin to the General Assembly’s Government Operations Committee and the rules were approved. They take effect March 14, 2024. It’s our understanding, based on the explanation given by the Board of Pharmacy attorney at a meeting in 2022, that pharmacists who created their own collaborative agreements prior to the pharmacy board rules adoption would be able to continue to sell under their own agreements.

The discussion and questions to the Board of Pharmacy representatives by the Gov Ops committee are worth watching.

Senator Bowling asked how it was that pharmacists have been able to refuse to sell ivermectin, even when an individual has a prescription from their doctor. It was explained that TN law allows pharmacists to refuse to fill any prescription they disagree with, and the new law does not require pharmacists to sell ivermectin, it simply provides the ability for them to do so, without a prescription, if the pharmacist chooses to participate under the new law.

Representative Jones referred to ivermectin as horse medicine, and Chairman Ragan said that Rep. Jones’ comment was out of order. Ragan explained that ivermectin is a human drug that has saved countless human lives and won a Nobel Prize for doing so. Senator Bowling remarked that implying that ivermectin was only a horse medicine was misinformation. And Representative Johnson asked if the Pharmacists Association was against the ivermectin rule, but the Board of Pharmacy representative said they could not speak on their behalf.

All present voted in favor of the rules except for Representative Jones and Johnson, who voted against.

To view the discussion and vote on ivermectin rules, begin at the 1:15:11 mark.