The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission voted to reclassify levamisole as a Class B drug during its regular meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 21, reports the Daily Racing Form. The Equine Drug Research Council recommended the reclassification three weeks ago.
The DRF report explained how KHRC equine medical director Dr. Bruce Howard clarified that a new research study completed in 2022 provided guidance on how long it takes for levamisole to clear a horse's system when used as a deworming agent.
Levamisole was the subject of five vacated KHRC rulings against trainer Joe Sharp in 2022. Sharp used an FDA-approved deworming product designed for cattle, sheep, and goats on his horses, after which five of them tested positive for levamisole in November of 2019.
The rulings on those positives, issued in 2021, stated that levamisole was a Class B drug, even though the KHRC had voted in 2015 to declassify levamisole. The 2015 declassification decision was made after detangling the association between levamisole and another drug called aminorex. Aminorex is a stimulant which has the potential for performance enhancement and was the primary substance of concern, commissioners concluded. Initially it had been unclear whether one was a sign that the other had been administered, but it's now generally accepted that levamisole can metabolize into aminorex, and not the other way around.
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