Treatment of male rats with finasteride, an inhibitor of 5alpha-reductase enzyme, induces long-lasting effects on depressive-like behavior, hippocampal neurogenesis, neuroinflammation and gut microbiota composition.

Our findings indicate that finasteride treatment causes several alterations in the hippocampus that are detected at the end of the treatment… coincide with the apparition of depressive-like behavior, suggesting that long term effects of finasteride treatment on neurogenesis and neuroinflammation may participate in the enduring effects of the drug on depressive-like behavior, which are detected […]

Finasteride, not tamsulosin, increases severity of erectile dysfunction and decreases testosterone levels in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

Conclusions: This study showed that long-term 5α-RIs therapy but not tamsulosin in men with BPH is associated with continued worsening of ED, which does not resolve with continuing treatment, contrary to previous claims. Most importantly, it appears that 5α-RIs therapy but not tamsulosin results in a reduction of T levels and increased AMS score as […]

Safety concerns regarding 5α reductase inhibitors for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia.

Recent postmarketing reports and a US Food and Drug Administration analysis have documented uncommon persistent sexual and nonsexual side-effects in a subset of younger men who have taken finasteride 1 mg for androgenic alopecia. While the mechanisms of the sexual side-effects in humans is incompletely understood, one study found lower cerebrospinal fluid concentrations of dihydrotestosterone, […]

Team Melcangi Launches ‘Milano Project’ to Map the Basic Science of PFS so Research Can Move from an Animal Model to Human Clinical Trials

Initial therapeutic target is allopregnanolone April 11, 2024 Dear Friends: Roberto Cosimo Melcangi, PhD, is taking a page out of Robert Oppenheimer’s playbook. The Head of the Neuroendocrinology Unit in the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Milano (UniMi) this week launched an initiative to supercharge post-finasteride syndrome (PFS) research and, […]

Search for Sources of Major PFS Symptoms Pinpoints 186 Brain Genes

New UniMi study enumerates pathologies including depression, anxiety, insomnia, and cognitive dysfunction potentially linked to finasteride-induced genetic dysregulation March 16, 2024 Dear Friends: Turns out, post-finasteride syndrome may indeed be all in your head—namely, your hypothalamus and hippocampus. So demonstrates the latest research from the University of Milano (UniMi), which has identified 186 genes in […]

Canada to Health Pros: All Finasteride Patients Should ‘Be Screened for Suicidal Ideation, Self-harm, and Depression’ Before Being Prescribed the Drug

Japanese disproportionality analysis of finasteride ADRs, meanwhile, shows completed suicides 270% higher than expected Jan. 28, 2024 Dear Friends: Canada is taking no chances vis-á-vis finasteride wreaking havoc on its citizens’ psyches. Pre-prescription edict Last week, drug-regulatory authority (DRA) Health Canada (HC), via its monthly Health Product InfoWatch bulletin, informed its nation’s healthcare professionals that: […]

51% of Dermatologists Believe Finasteride ‘May Cause’ Sexual Side Effects—but Only 18% Believe those ADRs May Persist, Says New Harvard Medical School Research

Pioneering PFS investigator Michael Irwig also finds that just 13% of respondents believe finasteride could cause depression, while 54% believe the drug is ‘unlikely’ or ‘very unlikely’ to do so Aug. 16, 2023 Dear Friends: Despite the fact that the finasteride product label has included depression and persistent loss of libido as possible side effects […]

2023 PFS Foundation Annual Address

Aug. 4, 2023 Dear Friends: Finasteride was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in April 1993. But let’s put that aside for a moment. Let’s instead step back just a dozen years. In April 2011, I was driving down the Garden State Parkway, on my way from New York City, where I […]