Dirección Anual 2025

MEDIA AWARENESS

It began in October, when one of the world’s most influential newspapers called to bounce ideas off us for a report on largely warning-free access to finasteride via telehealth firms. And this intense media interest in PFS didn’t subside until April, after an overseas magazine emailed us in broken English to ask if we knew any local men who suffer from PFS.

Looking back now, we can only recall those seven months as a dizzying array of Zoom meetings with reporters and producers; exhaustive conversations with patients in our database, asking if they’d be willing to go public with their condition; more hours than we’d like to admit subtitling 18 minutes of Spanish TV-news segments; and incessantly chugging black ice tea while churning out all our coverage of the media coverage playing out across the Northern Hemisphere.

The good news is, thanks to much impactful media attention, 2025 will go down as the year in which PFS went from little-recognized medical condition to mainstream topic of conversation.

Let’s take the best of it geo-chronologically.

Spain: February

On February 4, Carlos Sarasa González-Aller, a 46-year-old PFS patient, ascended to the roof of Paseo Castellana 163 in Madrid’s financial district, where he worked for cloud communications firm Sinch. About an hour later, despite desperate pleas from his colleague Nacho, he leapt 12 stories to an instant death. But before doing so, Carlos texted Nacho a note that read:

I can’t get out of this dark hole I’ve fallen into. I can’t sleep or focus on anything. My life is hell. I took a hair-loss medication that caused my depression. I’ve tried everything to heal myself, but nothing works. It’s called post-finasteride syndrome. Never take it.

Alfredo Pascual, a reporter with El Confidencial, Spain’s largest online newspaper, quickly got wind of the dramatic suicide, but it took him more than two weeks to nail the story down. Finally, on February 28, he published a scoop headlined A Few Days Ago, Carlos Threw Himself from a Roof in Castellana: He Blamed a Hair-loss Drug (English here).

The next day, a media firestorm erupted, sending shockwaves throughout the nation. “Could a hair-loss pill, one that’s sold on some websites without a prescription”—untold citizens asked—“really cause a man to kill himself?”

On Antena 3, Spain’s most watched channel, Espejo Público (English) host Susanna Griso fanned out eight pages of side effects reportedly caused by finasteride. Eighty-two in all, they ran the gamut from “abnormally slow heartbeat” to “burning anal pain” to “sensation of pressure in the head” to “vision problems.” And, yes, “suicidal ideation.” Co-host Miquel Valls, meanwhile, admitted “I took this medication for months… I eventually stopped on my doctor’s advice, because it had several side effects that were affecting my personal life.”

Over on competing network 5 Telecino, the mood was equally intense, with El Programa de Ana Rosa (English) bannered “MAN JUMPS FROM BUILDING, BLAMING HAIR-LOSS MEDICATION.” “It is true that there exists a possible link between finasteride use and increased risk of suicidal ideation and depression,” Carmen Fernández-Antón, MD, told host Ana Rosa Quintana.

While flashing the question “HAIR-LOSS PILLS THAT ENCOURAGE SUICIDE?” another 5 Telecino program characterized finasteride as “A go-to treatment for many celebrities.” “John Travolta tried everything to avoid going bald—hair transplants, wigs—all without success. Elon Musk…also uses this drug. Donald Trump does anything to continue showing off his famous blonde hair,” Tarde (English) reported in its coverage of Carlos’s death.

Canada: March

On March 6, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. (CBC) debuted an Enquête documentary titled Betting on Hair, Gambling on Health (English), which examined the myriad risks of finasteride use, along with allegations that the medication’s originator, Merck & Co., “knew of these risks but chose to downplay them in order to maximize profits.”

In all, lead reporter Brigitte Noël and director Judith Plamondon spent six months investigating incidence of PFS in Canada, speaking to 25 patients who suffer from the condition, three of whom appeared on camera. Wei Wong used topical finasteride, which is often touted as being safer than oral finasteride—despite scant scientific evidence to that effect—but discontinued the medication after just 10 days. “Immediately the next day… I was in pain. I could not think clearly. I did not have any motivation to do anything. I was in pure survival mode,” he said.

Enquête also spoke to Denise Turner, whose son Marc Turner took his own life three years ago, at age 36, after developing PFS. She recalled: “Before he died, he said, ‘I wish it was cancer.’ That’s a terrible thing to say, I told him. ‘But you don’t understand. There’s compassion for cancer patients.’ He said, ‘There’s no compassion for PFS patients.’”

Seeing as Enquête is French Canada’s highest-rated investigative newsmagazine series, we were pleased with the exposure, and never would have thought to press for more press. Thankfully, the CBC network bosses saw things differently, spreading the report across all its news platforms, both English- and French-language—TV, radio and print. That combined entity, known as CBC/Radio-Canada, reaches more than 20 million people per month.

• March 6: In tandem with Betting on Hair’s debut, Ici-Radio Canada News published a 5,000-word investigation headlined Finasteride: Beautiful Hair, but at What Price? (English).
• March 17: CBC News published a 2,000-word report headlined Hair-Loss Drug Finasteride Can Cause Debilitating Side-effects, Men Say, which included a five-minute TV-news package featuring additional comments from Denise about Marc’s suicide.
• March 22: CBC Info published a 2,200-word investigation into ever easier digital access to finasteride, headlined The Wild West of Men’s ‘Health’ Websites (English).
• March 25: CBC Listen debuted an episode of The Current, headlined The Rare but Life-Altering Side Effects of Hair-Loss Drug Finasteride, which expounded on the reporting laid out in Betting on Hair.

USA: March

On March 13, after its six-month investigation, The Wall Street Journal published a report headlined They Wanted a Quick Fix for Hair Loss. Instead, These Young Men Got Sick, which examined the correlation between ever-easier access to finasteride from companies like Hims and Keeps, and an upswing in the number of finasteride patients reporting persistent adverse reactions to the drug.

“Sawyer Hart was 27 and healthy when he got his finasteride prescription from Keeps in 2023. A week in, Hart experienced erectile dysfunction, so he stopped taking the drug. After that, unexplained panic attacks kept him home, and he was later hospitalized,” wrote Rolfe Winkler, who covers digital health exclusively for the business bible.

In addition to Sawyer, Rolfe spoke to 16 other PFS patients who were prescribed generic Propecia by telehealth companies. Most all complained that they weren’t aware the hair-loss medication carried any risks of serious side effects. Some said as well that what scant warnings they were given were inadequate.

“Finasteride…has been on the market for three decades with potential side effects including sexual dysfunction and depression. But a new generation of young men are discovering the medicine—and its potential risks,” Rolfe continued. “That is largely because they are peppered with ads on social media pitching hair-loss medications from telehealth companies, which unlike drugmakers aren’t required to disclose side effects and other risks in advertisements. It is a loophole telehealth companies have long exploited to sell medicines.”

UK: April

On April 18, the BBC debuted the product of, yes, its six-month investigation into PFS.

“Around 6.5 million men in the UK are currently affected by hair loss,” said Ashley John-Baptiste on the April 18 edition of Dr Xand’s Con or Cure. “But when a so-called cure brings about worse side effects than you could imagine, it doesn’t seem like such a cure after all.”

“In September of last year, a [freedom of information] request to the [UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency] revealed that 228 men got in touch with them about their adverse reactions to finasteride,” Ashley noted. “The MHRA say these numbers do not directly equate to the number of people who might actually suffer adverse reactions, just those who reported.”

So Con or Cure—whose mission is to “shine a light on medical malpractice and criminal behavior to help you take your health into your own hands”—tracked down and interviewed 10 of those men who did report, two of whom volunteered to share their stories on camera.

“After three weeks of taking finasteride, I started experiencing genital numbness, I suffered from a rash that didn’t disappear. I also suffered from stomach issues. So I stopped taking it after about four weeks,” said Shaun from London.

His worsening symptoms soon led him to the brink of self-destruction. “I experienced something called the crash. All my limbs felt weak. I couldn’t formulate a sentence. My speech was slurring. I had terrible chronic fatigue, panic attacks; crazy suicidal thoughts and depression.”

Russia: April

Nine days before the EMA released the results of its finasteride probe, Russia joined Britain, Canada, Spain, and the US in promoting PFS awareness. On April 29, the independent news portal Takie Dela published its nation’s first-ever investigation into the condition, headlined How Men Live up to Social Expectations (English). It began:

Russia is among the top 20 countries with the highest prevalence of male alopecia… According to media reports…more and more young people [here], including teenagers, are turning to doctors to treat their hair loss.

The 2,200-word report by Alexey Semenov, which referenced the FDA’s safety alert on compounded topical finasteride products, featured interviews with two Russian PFS patients, Vasily and Dmitry, who first contacted the PFS Foundation for help in 2017 and 2025, respectively.

Vasily was prescribed finasteride 15 years ago, at age 26, by a hair-transplant surgeon. Six months into treatment, he was beset by genital shrinkage and sexual dysfunction. “Instead of sperm, there was some kind of white foam, and my testicles appeared to be deflated,” he told Alexey. “It was the rudest of awakenings.”

Like countless PFS patients before him, Vasily consulted with numerous doctors, but they didn’t turn up any abnormalities. They simply advised him to wait six months. After doing so, however, he still didn’t recover. “Naturally, I haven’t had any romantic relationships during these past 15 years, let alone started a family,” he said. “My life is ruined.”

(For additional news coverage, see our PFS Media Awareness page.)

MEDICAL AWARENESS

Another milestone on the horizon

Clinicians, pharmacologists and researchers continue to voice their concerns about finasteride use, particularly in young men. Year over year, the number of such professionals aggregated on our Doctors & Researchers Speaking Out page rose from 158 to 190, which means by this time next year, we’ll no doubt be in 200+ territory.

Among the 32 new entrants is Georgios Tsampoukas, MD, a urologist at London’s Homerton University Hospital whose review article, Post-finasteride syndrome—a true clinical entity? was published in February in the International Journal of Impotence Research. “Future directions for PFS research should concentrate on elucidating specific causative factors, aiming to redefine PFS from a broadly symptomatic syndrome to a disease with a clear etiological basis, potentially leading to targeted treatment modalities,” he wrote. “This endeavor is not only scientifically crucial but also addresses significant bioethical concerns raised by the current syndrome-based diagnosis.”

Four months earlier, in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, Donal O’Shea, MD, of St. Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, presented a case study of one of his patients, 45, who developed PFS after taking oral finasteride for hair loss. “He first presented to endocrinology services having stopped finasteride after 20 years, reporting new onset reduced libido, penile shrinkage, fatigue, new food intolerances and agitated depression which was the predominant symptom in this case,” Dr. O’Shea wrote. “Neuropsychiatric symptoms are likely related to the presence of 5-alpha-reductase isoforms in the brain with resulting alterations in CSF and plasma neuroactive steroid levels and metabolites… Further studies in this regard, as well as an exploration of effective treatment options are required.”

POSTHUMOUS AWARENESS

Death of a Yale man

On December 16, Kelsey Libner took a cereal bowl from the kitchen of his Manhattan apartment, walked into his bedroom, and filled the bowl with three ingredients: water, sodium nitrate, and potassium nitrate. After drinking the solution, he lay on his bed as methemoglobinemia, a condition wherein blood is unable to transport oxygen to the body’s tissues, set in. Within an hour, he ceased to exist.

Of all the patient suicides we’ve endured over the years here at the PFS Foundation, Kelsey’s affected us most profoundly. Because not long after first emailing us for help on Christmas Eve of 2015, he became as much of a partner as a patient.

A week after that email—on New Year’s Eve—Kelsey telephoned us, eager to discuss his case in more detail, while intensely focused on the research we’d funded at Harvard Medical School, Baylor College of Medicine, and University of Milano.

Such discussions would become regular events over the next five years, with Kelsey showing an amazing capacity to locate, consume and analyze virtually every iota of finasteride info published anywhere. That, to the point where we eventually began learning things about the drug from him.

By late 2020, as his PFS symptoms failed to subside, Kelsey, who graduated from Yale University in 1994, resolved to act on two fronts.

Awareness-wise, he launched Finasteride Watch, which began as a bibliography of published studies and commentary encompassing all points of view vis-à-vis PFS. Within a year, however, he’d expanded the content to include categories ranging from Adverse event data to Weighing the risks.

Research-wise, he made an equally important contribution. When we told him that Melcangi had sent us the protocol for a study seeking to demonstrate that ALLO might be effective in counteracting finasteride-induced alterations in gut microbiota, he grew enthusiastic. After all, positive findings could spell the beginning of the end of his worst PFS symptoms.

Then came the tough part—telling Kelsey we didn’t have sufficient funds for the study. Instead of sulking, however, he immediately mailed us a check to cover its costs: $15,000. Eighteen months later, the research was published in Biomolecules, showing that ALLO can in fact fix finasteride-damaged gut microbiota (at least in rats), thus marking the first known proof of recovery from a PFS symptom.

As we set out on Year 14 of our mission, we ask everyone to honor Kelsey’s memory by giving generously so that we may continue this urgent work.