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

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

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 […]

Peripheral Nervous System Involved in PFS Patients with Severe ED, New Study Demonstrates

SOMERSET, N.J., April 18, 2017 – Post-finasteride syndrome (PFS) patients suffer from altered levels of critical brain-function regulators, including neuroactive steroids, according to a new clinical study published in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Titled Neuroactive Steroid Levels and Psychiatric and Andrological Features in Post-Finasteride Patients, the three-year study also uncovered evidence […]