Mel Gibson Claimed Ivermectin Cured Cancer. Now Prescriptions of the Unproven Treatment Are Surging 160%

Prescriptions of the antiparasite medication increased after Mel Gibson claimed it cured three friends who had cancer

NEED TO KNOW

• Mel Gibson claimed ivermectin cured cancer during a podcast, sparking a surge in prescriptions among cancer patients
• Experts warn the drug is unproven for cancer treatment and could lead to dangerous side effects in high doses
• NHL star Ron Duguay is supplementing his cancer treatment with ivermectin

Cancer patients are turning to ivermectin for treatment, even though the antiparasitic medication hasn't been proven to be effective against the disease — all because of celebrity endorsements.

Prescriptions of ivermectin and the compound benzimidazole among cancer patients increased more than 160% from 2024 to 2025, according to research published in JAMA, which looked at health data of more than 68 million people. The surge, according to the study, was prompted by Mel Gibson's Jan. 9, 2025 appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience, during which the actor, 70, claimed that the antiparasitic medication can cure cancer.

"There's got to be something that cures things and I'll tell you a good story," Gibson told the podcast host. "I have three friends, all three of them at stage four cancer. All three of them don't have cancer right now at all and they had some serious stuff going on."

"And what did they take?" Rogan asked.

Gibson laughed. "They took some — what you've heard they've taken."

"Ivermectin?" Rogan asked, and Gibson nodded.

"Yeah I'm hearing that a lot," Rogan said.

But ivermectin hasn't been proven to work, as Dr. John Mafi, an associate professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told ABC News: "It has not been proven in any kind of confirmatory clinical trial, which is the gold standard of evidence we need to know whether treatment works," he said.

Ivermectin is an effective antiparasitic treatment with its impact on cancer treatment still being researched; benzimidazole is a "promising compound" with anticancer properties that is still under research. Ivermectin became an ideological flashpoint during the COVID-19 pandemic, gaining popularity as a treatment for the disease among people who distrusted the vaccines and established medical treatment protocols.

Following the podcast, the JAMA study noted "disproportionate increases" of prescriptions of ivermectin among "male patients, White patients, residents of the US South, and individuals with cancer."

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NHL star Ron Duguay told ABC News that he's supplementing his stage 4 cancer treatment with ivermectin, explaining that he's going to try every option available in his cancer struggle. "As an athlete, I'm going for it," Duguay said. "I will take a chance."

But as JAMA says, "the elevated prescribing observed among patients with cancer is particularly concerning; individuals facing life-threatening illness may delay or forgo conventional treatments in favor of unproven therapies, potentially allowing their disease to progress."

And there's a risk of an overdose, Mafi told ABC News: "In very high doses, it can lead to seizure or coma." he said, adding, "In extremely high doses, even death, although that's rare."

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