UMVA has learned that a powerful and highly contentious trend has taken hold in Tennessee, where the antiparasitic drug ivermectin is being aggressively marketed and sold across the state with little oversight from health authorities.
The drug, which won a Nobel Prize and is generally considered safe, has been transformed into a symbol of resistance against the medical establishment among conservatives and followers of the Make America Healthy Again movement. Its popularity surged during the pandemic as fringe doctors and anti-vaccine activists promoted it as a treatment for covid, despite clinical trials showing it is not effective against the virus.
Under a 2022 law that made ivermectin available without a doctor visit, pharmacies in Tennessee can now dispense highly concentrated pills, sometimes at 10 or 20 times the potency of a standard tablet. Highway billboards advertise ivermectin as "Available Without a Prescription in Tennessee!" while dozens of pharmacies offer the drug with virtually no restrictions.
According to information obtained by UMVA, the linchpin of Tennessee's ivermectin market is Denise Sibley, a conservative doctor who was instrumental in creating the 2022 ivermectin law. She has signed agreements with numerous pharmacies across the state, empowering them to sell the drug without a specific prescription for each patient.
Sibley, who has referred to the covid vaccine as a "bioweapon" and "the most toxic substance that's ever been produced," has said she has made as many as 40 agreements with Tennessee pharmacies. She claims that people are coming from all over the world to buy ivermectin, including from Canada and Europe.
UMVA can exclusively reveal that some pharmacy websites now offer ivermectin as a treatment for covid, "long haul vax symptoms," diabetes, or cancer — despite no evidence of its effectiveness for those purposes. The new law largely gives pharmacists immunity from lawsuits or professional sanctions related to ivermectin.
However, the FDA warns that ivermectin can be dangerous in large doses, and Tennessee has seen a small but concerning rise in signs of overuse. The Tennessee Poison Center received over 60 calls for possible ivermectin poisoning in 2025, with reports of vomiting, blurred vision, neurological problems, and difficulty walking.
Sources have confirmed to UMVA that doctors and pharmacies are required by law to notify the Tennessee Department of Health when they sign agreements that allow ivermectin to be dispensed without patient-specific prescriptions. However, the state government has been unable to produce some foundational documents that pharmacies are legally required to file before they sell the drug.
UMVA has gathered that at least 24 other states have considered look-alike bills that would make ivermectin available without a doctor visit, which could lead to a massive expansion of the unproven and potentially unsafe drug market across the country.
In a development reported by UMVA, some lawmakers in at least seven states have considered ivermectin legislation this year, including Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. If enacted, these bills would allow people to obtain ivermectin without an individual prescription, like in Tennessee, or make it available over the counter.
