Two doctors who stirred controversy last year for promoting the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine as treatments for COVID-19 have escaped disciplinary action after the enforcement arm of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs declined to pursue complaints against them.
DCCA’s Regulated Industries Complaints Office, led by Esther Brown, conducted an investigation and determined there was insufficient evidence of a licensing law violation to move forward with a formal action before the Hawaii Medical Board, according to a spokeswoman for the department who said there would be no further comment on the matter.
Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist, and Dr. Lorrin Pang, the Maui district health officer for the state Department of Health, were facing a range of potential disciplinary actions, including censure, limits to the scope of their practice and revocation of their medical licenses. They also could have been subject to thousands of dollars in fines.
The executive officer of the Hawaii Medical Board filed the complaints last year against Milhoan and Pang following a Honolulu Star-Advertiser story that reported on their involvement with the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent. The Maui group promoted conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 vaccines and advocated for alternative treatment options, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, drugs the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned should not be used to treat the virus.
Both Milhoan and Pang told the Star-Advertiser that they supported use of the drugs.
Milhoan said he had been conducting free house calls on Maui and had treated more than 80 people for COVID-19.
Pang told the Star-Advertiser last year that he had taken part in the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent not because he supported all of its views but to promote dialogue and represent the side of medical science.
The coalition took down its website months ago and now appears to be defunct.
Milhoan, who is also a pastor at Calvary Chapel South Maui, did not respond to a request to comment on RICO’s decision. An official with his church said he was off island and unavailable. Pang also didn’t respond to a request for comment other than to say he had not yet been informed of the decision.
RICO’s decision not to pursue the cases was posted on its website Wednesday, the same day that a large clinical trial conducted in Brazil published findings that ivermectin showed no benefit in treating COVID-19.
The controversy over the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent, and Pang’s involvement with the group, came when Hawaii was battling the delta variant of the coronavirus, which sent cases soaring and hospital ICUs overflowed with sick patients.
House Speaker Scott Saiki and Senate President Ron Kouchi at the time called for Pang to be fired from DOH in a letter to Gov. David Ige. The letter also was signed by Rep. Ryan
Yamane, Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole and Sen. Roz Baker, who chair the House and Senate health committees. They said Pang’s involvement with the group had undermined the state’s critical public health messaging on the coronavirus and the public trust.
Pang has kept his job and DOH never commented on the employment issue, though at the time the department issued a sharp rebuke of the misinformation the coalition was spreading about the safety of the vaccines.
Pang struck back at lawmakers calling for his removal, issuing a lengthy statement to the media saying that decision makers were seeking to silence
experts.
“Recklessly going after a man of medicine who has saved countless lives, without checking the facts, is unconscionable,” said Pang’s statement, issued in September. “Whistleblower-level obstruction by legislators is a potential violation of longstanding FDA guidelines.”
Pang said that “at stake here is the right of M.D.s to make medical decisions” in accordance with guidelines from the FDA relating to off-label drug prescriptions.
Pang also qualified his support for doctors being
allowed to prescribe the drugs, saying he didn’t believe using them for early treatment was a realistic alternative to vaccination.
Public health officials worried that people were substituting the unproven treatments for the vaccines.
Hydroxychloroquine was approved by the FDA to treat malaria and certain autoimmune conditions. Health experts have warned that it is not effective at reducing the risk of severe illness or death from COVID-19 and that when used in patients with COVID-19 it can be
dangerous.
Ivermectin also soared in popularity last year, with reports across the country that the drug was selling out in livestock stores where it is sold as an anti-parasite treatment for animals.
The drug also treats parasitic infections in humans, as well as head lice and skin conditions such as rosacea, according to the FDA.
The FDA warns that taking large doses of ivermectin is dangerous and that ivermectin products approved for animals are different from those approved for humans and should never be used.
