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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
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
Blocking 5alpha-reductase by finasteride treatment may have broad consequences for the nervous system.
[W]e have evaluated in male rats the effects of a subchronic treatment with low doses of finasteride.…and the consequences of its withdrawal.…on neuroactive steroid levels…. Interestingly, at the withdrawal, some of these effects persisted, and different changes in neuroactive steroid levels, and in the expression of receptors, were also detected. Altogether these findings suggest that the block of the enzyme 5alpha-reductase by finasteride treatment may have broad consequences for the nervous system.
—Effect of Finasteride, an Inhibitor of the Enzyme 5alpha-Reductase, in the Nervous System: The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, July 2017
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.”
Leading German Paper Calls on Federal Institute for Drugs to Better Educate Doctors, Patients on PFS
March 12, 2018 Dear Friends: PFS is a growing concern in Germany, too. Ditto Albania. In December, we told you that the French National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) launched a public-awareness campaign warning against reported mood changes in Propecia patients, “particularly depression, and suicidal ideation.” Now we’re encouraged to report that Die Zeit, Germany’s […]
Possible Epigenetic Changes in PFS Patients Is Focus of New Clinical Study
SOMERSET, N.J., Jan. 29, 2018 – The Post-Finasteride Syndrome Foundation today announced Phase II of the clinical research on post-finasteride syndrome (PFS) being conducted at the University of Milano. Led by Roberto Cosimo Melcangi, Ph.D., head of the Neuroendocrinology Unit in the Department of Pharmacological and Biomolecular Sciences, the new study will evaluate: —In PFS […]
French Warning of Propecia-Induced Depression and Suicidal Ideation Prompts Wave of Media Attention
Dec. 19, 2017 Dear Friends: France is taking PFS very seriously. On Oct. 26, the French National Agency for Drug Safety (ANSM) issued a warning that “Changes in mood, particularly depression, and suicidal ideation, have been reported by patients taking Propecia.” The agency—France’s equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration—noted that “finasteride treatment should […]
Regulatory Update: European Medicines Agency Recommends Adding Depression and Suicidal Ideation to Finasteride Label
Aug. 10, 2017 Dear Friends: On August 4, CEO John Santmann wrote in his 2017 Annual Address, “Recent events in Europe and Asia have given me hope that, before this decade is out, we’ll see the day when no man on Earth is prescribed finasteride without ample warning of its many potential dangers.” Then he […]
2017 PFS Foundation Annual Address
Aug. 4, 2017 Dear Friends: Recent events in Europe and Asia have given me hope that, before this decade is out, we’ll see the day when no man on earth is prescribed finasteride without ample warning of its many potential dangers. On May 24, the UK’s equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration, the […]