«Vender medicamentos con receta sin receta es un delito», advierte Salvo Sottile, presentador de FarWest.
8 de noviembre de 2025
Queridos amigos:
Arrivederci, Rx!
Esa parece ser la actitud que impera actualmente entre los farmacéuticos italianos, al menos en lo que respecta a la finasterida.
Last month, the Rome-based TV news magazine FarWest (Rai 3) debuted a documentary titled The Undisclosed Risks of a Hair-Loss Drug (English-subtitled version here). Hosted by Salvo Sottile, the 11-minute film exposes “the disarming ease” with which finasteride can be obtained in his nation.
“We quickly found it online. And on social media platforms like Telegram,” says the veteran investigator. “In visiting several pharmacies, we also discovered a shocking lack of caution in how the drug is sold.”
Working undercover, a FarWest reporter walked into five random pharmacies and asked for finasteride. In each case, he informed the pharmacist that he had no prescription, then asked if it would still be possible to buy the drug.
Four of the five pharmacists said yes, and proceeded to dispense the medication. The fifth said he would only do so if the reporter returned with a prescription.
“Selling a prescription drug without a prescription is a crime. Only doctors can properly assess the balance between risks and benefits of possible side effects,” notes Sottile. “We hope that our investigation will encourage pharmacists to act with greater caution.”
Sottile also sat down with Roberto Cosimo Melcangi, PhD, Head of the Neuroendocrinology Unit in the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Milano, whose Milano Project is mapping the basic science of post-finasteride syndrome (PFS) to identify potential therapies for this emerging epidemic.
“Androgenic alopecia affects many young people, who often take matters into their own hands through social media and word of mouth,” says Sottile.
“At the slightest change in their hairline, these young men might talk to a friend, who tells them, ‘No, look, there’s finasteride,’” replies Melcangi. “Many patients start treatment without any medical advice. By now, the drug can be obtained almost anywhere.”
Interviewed as well is Francesco Crisafulli, a one-time professional bodybuilder who, after taking finasteride for hair loss, suffered nine years of depression, sexual dysfunction and cognitive dysfunction.
“I started to experience a real sense of depersonalization… In the mornings, I was completely exhausted… I was unhappy and constantly downcast. I was a very ambitious person, living one of the happiest periods of my life, both professionally and emotionally,” he says.
“There was clearly something undermining my entire system, including my cognitive abilities. I experienced a moment of madness. As I was heading home on a scooter, I didn’t know where I was. If that moment had happened again, I would’ve gone insane.”
Another finasteride patient, speaking anonymously, says, “Sexually, it was a complete mess. I developed serious, debilitating erectile dysfunction… I went to see a psychiatrist and told him about my condition. I was hospitalized for a week in a psychiatric ward.”
With this FarWest exposé, Italy joins the ranks of seven other nations—and one continent—whose regulatory agencies and/or media have this year published investigations into finasteride safety, with a focus on the drug’s links to suicidality: France, Canada, Spain, UK, Russia, Israel, and the US.
Finasteride was originally developed by Merck & Co., Inc., and first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1993 as Proscar (5 mg, for enlarged prostate), and again in 1997, as Propecia (1 mg, for hair loss).
In June 2021, Merck spun off its Organon subsidiary as an independent public company (NYSE: OGN). Founded in the Netherlands in 1923, Organon bills itself as a “global health care company dedicated to making a world of difference for women, their families and the communities they care for.”
Among the Merck products Organon acquired in the deal were Proscar and Propecia. To report adverse events for either finasteride product, call the Organon Service Center at (844)674-3200, or email Service_Center@Organon.com.
Anyone living in the US who suffers from PFS should also report his or her symptoms to the US FDA. Anyone living outside the US who suffers from PFS should report his or her symptoms to the US FDA as well as to his or her local DRA, as directed on our Report Your Side Effects page.
If you or a loved one are suffering from PFS, and feeling depressed or unstable, please don’t hesitate to contact the PFS Foundation as soon as possible via our Patient Support hotline: social@pfsfoundation.org
Thank you.