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Ohio’s House kills an off-label prescriptions proposal at the final stage

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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — The Ohio House last week shot down its own off-label drug prescriptions bill, which was one floor vote away from Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk.

Container of Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate tablets in a drugstore.
Container of Hydroxychloroquine Sulfate tablets in a drugstore. [Simone Hogan | shutterstock.com]
Introduced last year by Reps. Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester) and Mike Loychik (R-Bazetta) and initially backed by anti-vaccine mandate lobbyists Ohio Advocates for Medical Freedom, House Bill 73 would have given physicians more ability to prescribe drugs for conditions they weren’t tested for, like ivermectin or hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has greenlit use of those drugs in certain circumstances—just not COVID-19 cases. Ivermectin traditionally treats parasites, while hydroxychloroquine has been used to treat malaria and arthritis. Off-label prescribing is relatively common, as the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality estimates that one in five prescriptions are off-label.

The bill faced fierce opposition in committee, however, from the State Medical Board of Ohio, Ohio Board of Pharmacy, big city health care systems and more.

“Substitute HB 73 would endanger patients by allowing a prescriber to prescribe any drug … without regard to patient health and safety. It is the fundamentally accepted practice of medicine that when a provider prescribes a drug, that provider must follow the minimal standards of care,” State Medical Board Executive Director Stephanie Loucka testified in a June committee hearing.

The Senate gutted the bill in committee before sending it back to the House, most notably allowing pharmacists to decline prescriptions under most circumstances. Even the Senate floor vote Wednesday was tight when five GOP senators joined all seven Democrats against HB 73.

During a Wednesday night concurrence vote on Senate changes, Gross urged her colleagues to shoot it down, testifying she felt saddened about the final version of the bill.

“The people’s version of HB 73 ensured doctors would be able to fill prescriptions in the best interest of their consenting patients without obstruction from outpatient, inpatient pharmacists,” Gross said Wednesday.

Only a few House lawmakers voted in favor of the changes, with the vote total 3-88. It’s unlikely the bill will get resuscitated before the end of the year, but Gross said she will bring it back next year.