A Wyoming House Representative from Cheyenne wants to make it legal in the state to sell the controversial drug ivermectin over-the-counter.
Rep. Gary Brown, R-Cheyenne, this month unveiled House Bill 13, which would allow people in Wyoming to buy ivermectin without a prescription.
Used in some cases as a horse dewormer, ivermectin garnered controversy during the COVID-19 pandemic when President Joe Biden’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discouraged its use with slogans like, “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Serious y’all. Stop it.”
A group of doctors sued federal agencies in 2022, saying they waged a pressure campaign against them to block them from prescribing the drug.
The FDA settled that lawsuit in 2024.
If it becomes law, Brown’s bill would also specify that the state doesn’t classify the drug as a dangerous substance.
Brown told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that after watching other states pass this change in recent years, “I became really interested in it.”
At least four states so far sell ivermectin over-the-counter: Tennessee, Arkansas, Idaho and Louisiana.
“Big Pharma hates it because Ivermectin is a cure,” said Brown. “It works of course on parasites, but through doctors using it off-label, they’ve found it works very well for different viruses.”
Brown also pointed to anecdotes regarding the drug’s reported anticancer properties, and said he’s spoken with people who found relief from it.
He said he takes it, with a prescription, and believes he’s averted various illnesses through it.
And he referenced the work of Dr. William Makis, who touts the drug as a tenet in an alternative cancer protocol.
A 2020 study published in the National Library of Medicine concluded that the drug has “powerful antitumor effects.”
A 2025 study published in the same catalogue referenced “encouraging preclinical evidence” of anticancer properties.
It also concluded that “further investigation is needed” on how to formulate the drug and design “robust clinical trials assessing its safety and efficacy in oncology settings.”
Brown said he believes his bill is “actually something to help people.”
“So much of the time (the medical industry is) about treating people, not curing them,” he said. “It’s just something I felt needed to be done; something I’m excited about, and I’m really looking forward to seeing what happens in the session with this bill.”
One Doc Says…
Dr. Kristopher Schamber, a general internist practicing in Sheridan, told Cowboy State Daily on Monday that he opposes Brown's bill unequivocally.
“This bill is not necessary. It unnecessarily exposes people to serious side effects,” wrote Schamber in a Monday email. “Ivermectin is a serious medication with serious potential toxicity even if taken appropriately.
"It should always be taken under the supervision of a medical professional.”
Schamber pointed to a bill from last year’s lawmaking session at the state Capitol, House Bill 164, which has since become law.
Driven in part by the account of a doctor who said he was fired for prescribing ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, that law shields doctors from being fired, generally, for prescribing drugs off-label.
Ivermectin is “even more accessible than before” because of that law, but it’s still under the purview of medical professionals who can monitor for toxicities, said Schamber.
The drug’s potential toxicity is serious, he said.
Schamber acknowledged that Ivermectin shows broad-spectrum antiviral effects in laboratory settings against various RNA viruses, including a strain of bird flu.
But “these antiviral effects occur at concentrations that are difficult or impossible to achieve safely in humans through standard oral dosing without significant toxicity,” he added.
“The sponsors of this bill should hold medical liability for any potential consequences realized, should this bill become codified in state statute,” Schamber concluded.
Unleash The Studies
Dr. Kent Stockton, of Riverton, declined to comment on the bill’s value by Cowboy State Daily’s deadline, saying he’d like to research its side effects first.
But he cast the drug as promising, and said its benefits haven’t received proper deliberation in scientific circles.
“I think the fact that ivermectin works has had adequate proof — many times in many scientific articles that have been suppressed over the years, particularly since COVID,” said Stockton in a Monday phone interview.
“The damage that’s been done by doing that, and making people take medications that are more harmful and less useful has been irreparable,” he added. “I think somebody should pay for that."
Among the drug’s more common side effects are muscle and joint pain. Its less common side effects can include rapid weight gain, hand or feet tingling, and others.
Included among its rare side effects are seizures, loss of bowel control and others, according to drugs.com.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
