Why the Right Still Embraces Ivermectin

Document Type

News Article

Publication Date

3-31-2025

Abstract

[quote] The ongoing interest in ivermectin comes as little surprise to Lewis A. Grossman, a law professor and historian at American University who has written extensively about the concept of “therapeutic choice.” Mr. Grossman said that over the course of American history, a number of treatments have become popular despite having little or no buy-in from medical experts.

For example, he said, laetrile, an unproven cancer remedy derived from apricot pits, surged in popularity in the 1970s; the actor Steve McQueen used it in his unsuccessful fight against cancer.

At the height of laetrile’s popularity, proponents praised its affordability and railed against a big medicine-government “conspiracy” against it, while many experts classified it as quackery. The F.D.A. never approved it for treating cancer or any other therapeutic use, said Mr. Grossman, who is writing a book about laetrile called “Seeds of Rebellion.”

“The ivermectin story fits within a very, very long tradition in America of people latching on to nonorthodox therapies based in part on their suspicion that, for profit-maximizing reasons, drug companies and physicians are suppressing truth about them,” Mr. Grossman said.

Source Publication

New York Times

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