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.

Read our FDA Citizen Petition to remove finasteride from the market.

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

Read the latest research

Doctors & Researchers Speaking Out

Men under the age of 40 who use finasteride for alopecia are at risk for suicide if they develop persistent sexual adverse effects and insomnia.

An important pattern of symptoms was common among all cases who committed suicide in the setting of finasteride use – insomnia and persistent sexual dysfunction after medication discontinuation. Insomnia and fatigue/tiredness were some of the most debilitating symptoms… Men under the age of 40 who use finasteride for alopecia are at risk for suicide if they develop persistent sexual adverse effects and insomnia.

—Finasteride and Suicide: A Postmarketing Case Series: Dermatology, January 14, 2020

Michael S. Irwig, MD, Attending Endocrinologist
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Even if the incidence of persistent sexual adverse events is 3% to 5%… approximately 900,000 to 1.5 million men would suffer persistent sexual and psychiatric adverse events.

[A]pproximately 30 million young men, worldwide, would be prescribed finasteride or dutasteride to treat male pattern hair loss. Even if the incidence of persistent sexual adverse events is 3% to 5%, which may be viewed as a small number, approximately 900,000 to 1.5 million men would suffer persistent sexual and psychiatric adverse events. By no means this would be considered a small number and should not be dismissed or ignored.

—Post-finasteride syndrome: a surmountable challenge for clinicians: Fertility and Sterility, January 2020

Abdulmaged M. Traish, PhD, Professor of Biochemistry and Urology
Boston University School of Medicine

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

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

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 […]

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 […]

Regulatory Update: ‘Muscle-related Disorders’ Added to Canadian Finasteride Label in Response to Report by FDA-equivalent Agency

July 28, 2018 Dear Friends: Canada has taken an important first step toward keeping its citizens apprised of finasteride’s many potentially serious and persistent side effects. In the June edition of its Health Product InfoWatch, Health Canada (Canada’s version of the US Food and Drug Administration) reported that “New information regarding the risk of muscle-related […]