Horowitz: NH House committee unanimously passes bill affirming physicians’ right to prescribe off-label

If the federal government can hand out “crack pipes” like candy, then shouldn’t citizens be able to access ivermectin, a Nobel Prize-winning drug, which many believe helps prevent the terrible inflammatory disease of COVID-19? Well, evidently that argument was so strong that even in our hyper-partisan COVID debates, the New Hampshire state House Health and Human Services Committee passed a bill alleviating the unprecedented war on off-label drugs without any dissent.

It’s been nearly two years since, for the first time in medical history, doctors have been intimidated out of prescribing even the safest drugs on the markets off-label. It began with hydroxychloroquine and several governors who banned prescriptions and eventually continued in the form of medical boards threatening licenses of doctors who prescribe off-label as well as pharmacists refusing to fill these safe prescriptions. Thus far, only two states – North Dakota and Tennessee – have signed bills into law protecting the rights of doctors to prescribe. No bill dealing with the pharmacy issue has made it past the legislative process yet.

This is what makes passage of HB 1466 out of the NH House committee so noteworthy. For once, the bill wasn’t partisan. “Today’s unanimous vote on HB 1466 shows that New Hampshire is ready to start fighting back against the medical tyranny griping this country,” said Rep. Melissa Blasek, one of the original co-sponsors, in an interview with TheBlaze on Monday. “Doctors and pharmacists should be able to help people without fear of losing their licenses.”

The bill prevents any licensing board from threatening the license of a doctor for treating people with off-label drugs, as has been done since the beginning of medicine, so long as there is informed consent. “The state of New Hampshire confirms its strong support for the autonomous clinical decision-making authority of a physician and that a physician may lawfully use an FDA approved drug product, biologic or medical device for an off-label indication when such use is based upon sound scientific evidence or sound medical opinion; and therefore the board shall not take disciplinary or non-disciplinary remedial action against a licensee for the off-label use of drugs, biologics, or devices,” reads the opening of the bill.

There is a stronger bill (HB 1022) coming up soon for a vote in the committee specifically directed at ivermectin, making it over the counter in any pharmacy based on a standing order from a local doctor.

COVID restrictions might be ending, but COVID is not over, and the concerted effort on the part of the medical establishment and government to limit both outpatient and inpatient treatment options is literally the new pro-life cause. It’s gone so far that they refuse to promote even over-the-counter remedies and have often attacked them. Just now, after over 100 studies showing the efficacy of vitamin D levels against COVID inflammation, have they finally begun to mention it. “Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Severe COVID,” wrote WebMD in a recent article two years after frontline doctors knew this. Specifically, they point to a recent Israeli study showing those with vitamin D deficiency 14 times more likely to suffer severe COVID. Imagine how many lives could have been saved had they been promoting this at the time people like Dr. Vladimir Zelenko warned about it?

Feb. 11, 2022, was the first time I recall the CDC tweeting about treatment options. Except the only options they mention are ones from Big Pharma that have no real-world experience vouching for their safety and efficacy. One simple over-the-counter drug they refuse to mention is famotidine (Pepcid AC), one of the safest and most well-tolerated antihistamines on the market. A brand-new randomized controlled trial from Northwell Health and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory found that those in the treatment trial experienced quicker resolution of inflammation in the body and a better resolution of 14 out of 16 assessed symptoms, including improvement in breathing, chest congestion, cough and abdominal pain.

This is just one over-the-counter drug that has been known to act to some degree against COVID for nearly two years. Dr. Robert Malone wrote a paper on the use of famotidine for COVID in May 2020, yet studies have been slow-walked to death. Famotidine was one of the drugs that Trump was treated with in Walter Reed when he got COVID in October 2020. No, it’s not a silver bullet, but it has some return with zero risk and is one of the few options available for pregnant women who can’t take most other medications. How was this information allowed to be stifled for so long?

One thing is clear: in the coming weeks, we will all learn who was right and who was wrong about treatment when it really mattered. The question is whether the politicians will lead the curve or be flattened by it.