- Prescriptions for ivermectin and fenbendazole, an unproven cancer treatment, more than doubled in early 2025.
- This increase followed actor Mel Gibson's endorsement of the drugs on Joe Rogan’s podcast in January 2025, where he claimed they cured friends with stage-four cancer.
- A study by Virginia Tech, UCLA, and the University of Michigan found that cancer patients' prescriptions for these drugs were 2.5 times higher in the first seven months of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024.
- The spike was especially pronounced in white patients, men, and patients in the South, groups that overlap strongly with Rogan’s listenership, the scientists found.
- The study highlights the growing challenge of medical misinformation spread by influencers, noting that half of U.S. adults under 50 obtain health information from sources that often lack scientific or medical backgrounds.
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