New Study Shows Ivermectin Prescriptions Doubled After Actor Mel Gibson’s Podcast Appearance — What Experts Say About Celebrity Health Advice

A Surge in Prescriptions Tied to a Single Podcast Episode

When actor Mel Gibson appeared on a popular podcast in January 2025 and claimed that a combination of two drugs had cured three of his friends of advanced cancer, something remarkable happened. Prescriptions for that exact drug combination doubled across the United States within months, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open.

The study, led by Dr. Michelle S. Rockwell of the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, examined national prescribing data from a massive database covering nearly 70 million patients. Researchers found that the rate of monthly prescriptions for the combination of ivermectin and benzimidazole-class drugs jumped nearly twofold from January through July 2025 compared with the same period in 2024.

This dramatic increase happened almost immediately after Gibson’s appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” a podcast with more than 16 million subscribers on YouTube and massive audiences on Spotify and Facebook. During the episode, Gibson expressed distrust of conventional medicine and promoted natural therapies, specifically claiming that the ivermectin-benzimidazole combination had cured his friends with stage IV cancer.

What the Numbers Actually Show

The study’s findings are striking, but they require careful interpretation. Here is what the data revealed:

• The overall rate ratio for monthly prescribing of the ivermectin-benzimidazole combination was 1.97 for January through July 2025 compared with the same months in 2024
• Among patients with a cancer diagnosis, prescribing more than doubled, with a rate ratio of 2.63
• The increases were driven primarily by white men under age 65
• Patients living in the southern United States showed the largest increases

Researchers noted that these demographic patterns closely mirror the typical audience of the podcast where Gibson appeared. This connection suggests that health misinformation can spread selectively and rapidly through specific media channels, reaching people who may already be inclined to trust celebrity endorsements over medical evidence.

Background on Ivermectin and Benzimidazole Drugs

Ivermectin is an antiparasitic medication that has been used safely for decades to treat conditions like river blindness and scabies in humans, as well as parasites in animals. It became highly controversial during the COVID-19 pandemic when some public figures promoted it as a treatment for the virus, despite a lack of solid evidence from clinical trials.

Benzimidazole-class drugs are a group of antiparasitic medications that include albendazole and mebendazole. These drugs are typically used to treat worm infections. Some laboratory studies have suggested that benzimidazoles might have anticancer properties, but these findings have not been confirmed in rigorous human trials.

The combination of ivermectin and benzimidazoles has not been proven safe or effective for treating cancer in humans. No major cancer organization, including the American Cancer Society or the National Cancer Institute, recommends this combination for cancer treatment.

Why This Matters for Patients and Families

For people facing a cancer diagnosis, the desire to explore every possible treatment option is completely understandable. Cancer is frightening, and the standard treatments — surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, immunotherapy — can be grueling and come with significant side effects. When a well-known actor appears to offer a simpler, more “natural” alternative, it can feel like a lifeline.

However, experts warn that turning to unproven treatments can have serious consequences. The real danger is not necessarily that ivermectin itself is toxic — it generally has a good safety profile when used as prescribed — but that patients may delay or abandon proven cancer treatments in favor of unproven alternatives.

“The real source of harm can come when a patient foregoes proven, potentially effective therapy for something like this that’s not proven,” Dr. Rockwell explained in an interview.

What Experts Say About Celebrity Health Advice

Medical professionals have long struggled with the influence of celebrities on health decisions. From vaccine misinformation to miracle diets, public figures have promoted questionable health advice for decades. What makes the current situation different, according to Dr. Rockwell, is the speed at which misinformation spreads and the level of distrust in traditional medical institutions.

“The volume of information that patients are faced with and the speed by which that information or misinformation travels and the trust or mistrust or distrust in institutions of health and science make it more complicated,” she said.

Dr. Katherine Kahn, a co-author of the study from UCLA Health, emphasized that building trusting relationships between doctors and patients is essential for addressing these issues. When patients come into a clinic convinced that a celebrity-endorsed treatment will cure them, it can create tension with their healthcare provider.

“We stand for evidence-based interventions for our patients, individually and for populations,” Dr. Kahn said. “When a patient comes in with strong ideas based on something in the media and we as clinicians have no evidence that it’s helpful, or may even be harmful, this definitely can create tension.”

How This Study Was Conducted

Researchers used a large medical database called TriNetX, which contains health records from millions of U.S. patients. They searched for adults who had received at least one prescription for ivermectin and one for a benzimidazole-class drug between January 2018 and July 2025. They calculated monthly prescribing rates per 1,000 patients and compared the first seven months of 2025 with the same period in 2024.

The study population included more than 68 million patients, making it one of the largest analyses of its kind. Researchers adjusted their calculations for age and sex to ensure the comparisons were fair.

Dr. Rockwell noted that her team was already studying ivermectin prescribing patterns during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they were prepared to track changes after Gibson’s podcast appearance. “The podcast episode spread very quickly through different media sources,” she said. “We became curious, as a natural follow-up, about how that might be influencing prescribing, specifically for patients with cancer.”

Practical Takeaways for Readers

If you or a loved one is facing a cancer diagnosis, here are some important things to keep in mind:

• Always talk to your doctor before trying any new treatment — even if it seems natural or harmless. What works in a lab dish or in animals does not always work in humans.
• Be skeptical of celebrity health claims — actors and influencers are not medical experts. Their personal stories, while compelling, do not replace scientific evidence from well-designed clinical trials.
• Understand the risks of delaying proven treatments — cancer can progress quickly. Waiting to try an unproven therapy could mean missing the window for effective treatment.
• Ask your doctor about clinical trials — if you are interested in experimental treatments, legitimate clinical trials offer a safe way to access them while contributing to medical knowledge.
• Build a trusting relationship with your healthcare team — doctors are trained to help you navigate treatment decisions. If you feel your concerns are not being heard, consider seeking a second opinion rather than turning to unproven alternatives.

The Bigger Picture: Misinformation in the Digital Age

Dr. Rockwell pointed out that the rapid prescribing changes observed in this study highlight a broader challenge for healthcare. Medical researchers typically spend years trying to translate good science into clinical practice. Yet a single podcast episode can change prescribing patterns within weeks.

“In my career, there has been a focus on how to translate good science, good evidence into practice faster,” she said. “There is still a need for that… but it’s a process that can take years and years, so the fact that the prescribing patterns were influenced very quickly is still really striking.”

Dr. Kahn added that clinicians need to be prepared for difficult conversations with patients who have been influenced by media claims. Rather than simply dismissing patients’ concerns, doctors should focus on building trust and explaining why they recommend specific treatments.

“What has meaning for patients is whether they have a history with the medical system or with us as clinicians,” she said. “We can say that we know what you see in the literature and what your friends are doing, but that’s not what I would recommend for you for this or that reason. These are conversations that I think my colleagues should be having regularly with patients.”

What This Means for the Future

The study’s authors emphasized that the implications go far beyond ivermectin. The same dynamics that allowed this misinformation to spread could apply to any unproven treatment promoted by a trusted public figure. As long as patients feel mistrust toward traditional medicine and are exposed to compelling stories from celebrities, the pattern is likely to repeat.

The key, experts say, is to strengthen the relationship between patients and their healthcare providers. When patients trust their doctors, they are more likely to ask questions, share their concerns, and make informed decisions based on evidence rather than celebrity endorsements.

For now, the message from researchers is clear: If a celebrity tells you about a miracle cure, check with your doctor before acting on that advice. Your health is too important to leave to Hollywood.

Source: MedPage Today