There are over 20,000 scientific publications on ivermectin. Its discoverers won the Nobel Prize in 2015. It has saved hundreds of millions of lives across the developing world. And in April 2026, a new study confirmed patient benefits of ivermectin, fenbendazole, and mebendazole in cancer treatment. The drug costs roughly ten cents per dose. The medical establishment’s most memorable contribution to the public conversation about it was to call it horse paste.
Cancer: From the Margins to the NCI
In February 2026, NCI Director Anthony Letai confirmed that the agency is conducting preclinical studies on ivermectin’s “ability to kill cancer cells.” This was not a fringe claim on a message board. It came from the head of the National Cancer Institute. The science behind it is not new. Ivermectin has been shown to modulate the Wnt/beta-catenin pathway, the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, and the STAT3 pathway — three of the most significant signaling cascades in cancer biology. Research suggests it can convert immunologically “cold” tumors into “hot” ones, making them visible to the immune system. It synergizes with immunotherapy drugs that cost thousands of dollars per infusion. NPR reported in March 2026 that ivermectin is “making a post-pandemic comeback among cancer patients.” Dr. William Makis’s ivermectin protocol has gained significant traction among patients seeking alternatives. And yet, as of this writing, no major pharmaceutical company has sponsored a large-scale clinical trial.
HIV: Robust Antiviral Action, Zero Headlines
Published research has demonstrated that ivermectin inhibits HIV-1 replication by targeting the importin alpha/beta-1 nuclear transport complex — the mechanism the virus uses to shuttle its proteins into the cell nucleus. Studies describe “robust antiviral action” in cell cultures. Thirty-nine million people are living with HIV globally. The current frontline approach involves drugs like lenacapavir, a long-acting capsid inhibitor that represents a genuine pharmaceutical achievement — and a price point that ensures its manufacturer’s shareholders are well cared for. Could ivermectin replace it? That is not the claim. The claim is simpler: when a ten-cent drug shows activity against one of the most devastating viruses in human history, the appropriate response is investigation, not silence.
Herpes: Half the World, Half the Inhibition
Ivermectin has demonstrated antiviral activity against human herpesvirus type 2 at sub-3.2 micromolar concentrations, achieving approximately 50 percent inhibition in laboratory studies. This is not a cure. It is a signal — the kind that, in any rational system, would trigger further research. The World Health Organization estimates that 3.7 billion people under 50 have HSV-1 and 491 million aged 15 to 49 have HSV-2. Meanwhile, billions in research funding flow toward novel antivirals like ABI-5366 for herpes, pembrolizumab for cancer, and lenacapavir for HIV. These are not bad drugs. But when a Nobel Prize-winning compound with demonstrated activity across multiple disease categories costs a dime and has 20,000 studies behind it, one might ask why the urgency to investigate it further has been so conspicuously absent.
Five States Decided Not to Wait
Tennessee, Arkansas, Idaho, Louisiana, and Texas now allow over-the-counter sales of ivermectin. These legislative decisions did not emerge from conspiracy forums. They emerged from constituents who read the research, watched the establishment dismiss it, and decided that access to a Nobel Prize-winning drug should not require a permission slip from the same system that spent two years calling it horse dewormer. Whether these laws represent sound public health policy is a legitimate debate. That they were necessary at all is the more revealing question.
The Pattern
During COVID, ivermectin was mocked relentlessly. Media outlets ran segments featuring livestock-sized tubes of paste. Social media platforms suppressed discussion. Physicians who prescribed it faced professional consequences. And now, in 2026, the director of the National Cancer Institute is studying its ability to kill cancer cells. The research on HIV replication exists in peer-reviewed journals. The herpes data sits in published literature. Twenty thousand studies. A Nobel Prize. Activity against cancer, HIV, and herpes. Cost: ten cents. And the most significant institutional response so far has been to ensure the public associated it with animals. One does not need a conspiracy to explain this. One only needs to follow the money.
