Welcome

The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation’s primary mission is to fund research on the characterization, underlying biologic mechanisms and treatments of post-finasteride syndrome (PFS). Other goals include generating public awareness of PFS and providing support for patients suffering from the condition.

Adverse drug reaction reports worldwide

Adverse drug reaction reports worldwide

PFS research studies published

PFS research studies published

Known suicides worldwide

Known suicides worldwide

Doctors & researchers speaking out

Doctors & researchers speaking out

Nations warning of PFS

Nations warning of PFS

National media reports worldwide

National media reports worldwide

Sources

Patient Services

Connect with other PFS patients

Consult knowledgeable doctors

Report your side effects

Doctors & Researchers Speaking Out

Using finasteride for hair loss is like shooting at sparrows with cannons.

Using finasteride for hair loss is like shooting at sparrows with cannons. The drug.…blocks not only the super hormone but also other hormones that affect thinking and psyche, mood and emotions. Discontinuation of the drug should actually make the hormones work again.…but apparently, something breaks down in some men, in the prostate, in the brain, in the whole organism.

—I Didn’t Want to Go Bald. A Pill the Doctor Gave Me Destroyed My Life (English translation): Die Zeit, Feb. 22, 2018

Michael Zitzmann, MD, Andrology Professor
University of Munster, Germany

We wouldn’t recommend that any man take [finasteride], especially not young men.

We are certainly very cautious, because we see the side effects. We wouldn’t recommend that any man take [finasteride], especially not young men. The longer they take it, the greater the risk of experiencing persistent side effects, including after they’ve stopped.

—Do Anti-Baldness Remedies Make You Impotent? Puls, SRF-TV, May 7, 2018

Doris Mannhard, MD, Urologist
University Hospital Zürich

For the first time, we demonstrate a tissue-specific methylation pattern of SRD5A2 promoter in PFS patients.

For the first time, we demonstrate a tissue-specific methylation pattern of SRD5A2 promoter in PFS patients [which] could represent an important mechanism of neuroactive steroid levels and behavioral disturbances previously described in PFS… The SRD5A2 promoter was more frequently methylated in the CSF of PFS patients compared to controls (56.3 versus 7.7%).

—Altered methylation pattern of the SRD5A2 gene in cerebrospinal fluid of post-finasteride patients: a pilot study: Endocrine Connections, July, 2019

Roberto Melcangi, PhD, Head of Neuroendocrinology, Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences
University of Milano

FDA is concerned that use of finasteride by pediatric patients may pose long-term safety risks.

Finasteride inhibits Type II 5(alpha)-reductase, which metabolizes testosterone to the potent androgen 5(alpha)-dihydrotestosterone. FDA is concerned that use of finasteride by pediatric patients may pose long-term safety risks regarding growth, development and sexual function.

—FDA response to Merck & Co.’s citizen petition requesting that finasteride be added to the List of Approved Drugs for Which Additional Pediatric Information May Produce Health Benefits in the Pediatric Population: May 2000

Janet Woodcock, MD, Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research
US Food and Drug Administration
More

2018 PFS Foundation Annual Address

Aug. 4, 2018 Dear Friends: November 23 is a day I wish I could strike forever from the calendar. For it’s the anniversary of my son Randy’s death. And this coming November 23 will be particularly difficult, marking a decade since his passing. On that day in 2008, despite my degrees from Johns Hopkins and […]

France’s No. 1 News Magazine Takes Federal Drug Agency to Task for Letting PFS Proliferate

July 31, 2018 Dear Friends: Thirty-thousand Frenchman can’t all be immune to PFS. And the nation’s most widely read news magazine seems bent on proving it. In a July 21 feature story headlined Finasteride, the Controversial Drug that Medical Authorities Continue to Defend (English translation here), investigative reporters Camélia Echchihab and Emre Sari write: “Can […]

Common Pathways Between PFS and Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction Could Be Useful in Designing Therapeutic Strategies for Both, Says New University of Milano Study

April 30, 2018 Dear Friends: Roberto Cosimo Melcangi, Ph.D., head of the Neuroendocrinology Unit in the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Milano, has published a new paper in the current issue of Endocrine: International Journal of Basic and Clinical Endocrinology. Titled Post-finasteride syndrome and post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: two sides of […]