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Proscar (5 mg) Propecia(TM) (1 mg) (finasteride hydrochloride)

Related Topics:

• prostate concerns / saw palmetto / Avodart (dutasteride) / Rapaflo (silodosin)

Where to purchase:

• See online prescriptions
• Proscar at International Anti-aging Systems
• OffshoreRx1.com.
• International Anti-aging Systems

Alternative News:

• See saw palmetto
• Inflammatory pathway employed by Red Maca to treat induced benign prostatic hyperplasia in rats - Andrologia. 2020 Jan 28 - "The Peruvian plant known as Red Maca (RM) (Lepidium meyenii) inhibits BPH in rats and mice. The aim of the study was to assess the inflammatory effect of RM and finasteride in rats with testosterone enanthate (TE)-induced BPH. Thirty rats were divided into 5 groups: Control, TE (50 mg/rat), TE + F (0.6 mg/kg), and two groups of TE + RM 40/80 (40 or 80 mg). After treatments, tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNFa), interleukin 4 (IL4) and interferon gamma (INFg) as well as testosterone and oestradiol were evaluated and inflammatory cells (neutrophils, mast cells and lymphocytes) in prostate were quantified. Red Maca and finasteride treatments decreased inflammatory cells counts in prostate, inhibiting TNFa by different pathways. Finasteride increased IL4 whereas Red Maca increased INFg. In conclusion, data suggest that finasteride acts on Th2 response by increasing IL4 in prostate, while Red Maca acts on Th1 response mediated by INFg" - See Red Maca (RM) (Lepidium meyenii) at Amazon.com.
• Relieve Common Men’s Condition with Saw Palmetto Extract - Healthwell Exchange Daily News, 9/16/04 - "Comparison trials found its effects to be similar to those of finasteride and tamsulosin ... however, while some men using the standard medications experienced sexual dysfunction as a side effect, men using the herbal extract did not" - See iHerb saw palmetto products.

News & Research:

• Finasteride Clears Its Name - WebMD, 1/23/19 - "the drug has never been fully accepted for this use, mainly because earlier results from the trial showed an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer ... Now, longer-term results from this trial (median follow-up of 18.6 years) show that there has been no increase in prostate cancer-related deaths with the drug"
• Hair Loss Drug Propecia Carries Risk of Losing Something Else - NBC News, 3/10/17 - "It's a low risk— overall, just 1.4 percent of men who took the drugs suffered long-term erectile dysfunction. But it lasted a very long time: more than 3 ½ years after they stopped taking the drugs ... The younger the men, the bigger the risk ... The drugs are sold under the brand names Propecia, Proscar and Avodart and are known generically as finasteride and dutasteride ... It was a hard problem to fix. Taking Viagra or other drugs did not seem to help ... "I have hundreds of these patients," he told NBC News. "They have low libido. They have flat emotions. They see a woman, they say intellectually, 'I know I am supposed to be interested in you. But I am actually not interested in you'. They have muted orgasms, reduced volume of ejaculate, reduced penile sensation.""
• Risk of Erectile Dysfunction Associated With Use of 5-α Reductase Inhibitors for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia or Alopecia - Medscape, 10/20/16 - "5-α reductase inhibitor (finasteride or dutasteride) ... 5-α reductase inhibitors do not seem to significantly increase the risk of incident erectile dysfunction, regardless of indication for use. Risk of erectile dysfunction increased with longer duration of benign prostatic hyperplasia"
• More Side Effects in First Year With BPH Drugs - Medscape, 12/31/15 - "At year 1, the incidence of impotence was significantly higher with finasteride (1.9-fold higher; p=0.006) and combination therapy (2.4-fold higher; p <0.001). Beyond year 1, the rates between the drug treatment groups and placebo were similar ... Incidence rates for decreased libido were also significantly higher at year 1 with finasteride (1.7-fold higher; p=0.021) and combination therapy (2-fold higher; p=0.001). After year 1, the rates between the treatment groups and placebo were similar ... at year 1, the incidence of abnormal ejaculation was significantly higher with finasteride (2.5-fold higher; p=0.002) and combination therapy (5.5-fold higher; p<0.001). And after year 1, only the combination therapy group had a significantly higher incidence rate compared with placebo"
• Erectile dysfunction worsened, testosterone levels decreased by some treatments of prostate enlargement - Science Daily, 6/12/15 - "The researchers found that the men treated with finasteride experienced marked and significant gradual decrease in their erectile function and had significant and progressive decline in total testosterone levels while those on the tamsulosin therapy did not"
• 18-Year Study Finds Drug Cut Prostate Cancer Risk - WebMD, 8/14/13 - "an 18-year follow-up on the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, which took place in the late 1990s. Back then, the trial found that finasteride could reduce overall risk of prostate cancer by 25 percent -- but that it increased by 27 percent the risk of high-grade prostate cancer in those men who did wind up with the disease ... the drug actually worked better than earlier reported in reducing prostate cancer risk ... You take Proscar for six months to a year and it halves the size of your prostate, but the cancer inside your prostate does not shrink .... If I'm performing a biopsy on a smaller prostate, I'm more likely to hit that cancer than if I am sticking into a larger prostate. This drug wasn't causing more prostate cancer. It's causing more prostate cancer to be diagnosed" - [Abstract]
• Finasteride: No Survival Benefit - Medscape, 3/12/12
• Hair-loss drug linked to severe depression in men - MSNBC, 8/7/12
• The Impact of Current BPH Treatment on Sexual Function - Medscape, 10/13/11 - See table one.  Some of those medications were less than the placebo.  For example, Alfuzosin had a 3% ED rate but the placebo was 4%.  The article didn't cover gynecomastia which can be a problem with BPH treatments.  Some studies support letrozole to prevent gynecomastia.  I take a quarter tablet every other day.
• Drugs for hair loss and benign prostatic hyperplasia may result in loss of libido, erectile dysfunction in men - Science Daily, 1/11/11 - "5a-reductase inhibitors (5a-RIs), while improving urinary symptoms in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and possible hair loss prevention, produces significant adverse effects in some individuals including loss of libido, erectile dysfunction (ED), ejaculatory dysfunction and potential depression" -
  • Prostate Drug May Not Dim Sex - WebMD, 6/26/07 - "Six months after the men started taking their assigned drugs, the survey scores were about three points higher for the men taking Proscar. By the end of the study, that gap narrowed to about two points"
  • Prostate Drug Doesn't Limit Sexual Function In Most Men - Science Daily, 7/19/07 - "The study suggests that finasteride will cause little or no sexual dysfunction for most men who decide to take it"
  • Ask a Medical Question - Can letrozole cure gynecomastia - JustAnswer - "Letrozole may be effective in preventing and reversing the gynaecomastia provided it is used early enough in steroid induced gynaecomastia" - See letrozole at OffshoreRx1.com.  I believe the recommended dose is something like a quarter tablet every three days but don't quote me on it.  That's what I take.
• Cholesterol-lowering drug shrinks enlarged prostates in hamster model - Science Daily, 10/21/10 - "Ezetimibe reduced prostatic enlargement in aged hamsters as effectively as finasteride and combining the two drugs worked better than either one alone ... finasteride caused atrophy of the hamster prostate while ezetimibe did not"
• Finasteride May Be Helpful for Benign Prostatic Hypertrophy - Medscape, 10/8/10 - "Finasteride improves long-term urinary symptoms versus placebo, but is less effective than doxazosin," the study authors write. "Long-term combination therapy with alpha blockers (doxazosin, terazosin) improves symptoms significantly better than finasteride monotherapy. Finasteride + doxazosin improves symptoms equally — and clinically — to doxazosin alone. In comparison to doxazosin, finasteride + doxazosin appears to improve urinary symptoms only in men with medium (25 to < 40 mL) or large prostates (≥ 40 mL), but not in men with small prostates (25 mL)."
• Case For Preventive Prostate Cancer Treatment Bolstered - Science Daily, 7/19/09 - "finasteride ... Now new research from Stanford University School of Medicine appears to show that the drug did not cause those more aggressive forms of prostate cancer but simply made them easier to diagnose"
• Drug Reduces Risk of Prostate Cancer in Middle-Aged Men, Medical Groups Say - washingtonpost.com, 2/24/09 - "taking finasteride, a drug that is already widely used to treat male pattern baldness and urological problems, can reduce the risk of developing prostate cancer by as much as 25 percent" - Yeah, but you get 50% out of dutasteride.  See:
• Finasteride and High-Grade Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 6/19/08 - "A new analysis from the national Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT) shows that finasteride does not increase the risk for high-grade prostate cancer, as earlier findings appeared to indicate"
• Proscar Lowers Prostate Cancer Risk in All Men - Medscape, 6/13/08 - "Finasteride (Proscar) reduces the risk of prostate cancer regardless of a patient's risk level for the malignancy ... In the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, finasteride treatment was associated with a 25% reduction in the risk of prostate cancer"
• Finasteride May Help Preventing Prostate Cancer, Study Shows - Science Daily, 5/18/08 - "in addition to a 25 to 30 percent reduction in prostate cancer development overall in men taking finasteride, there was no evidence that the drug increased the rate of aggressive tumors and likey decreased their rate by 27 percent"
• Pros, Cons Of Drug Proven To Prevent Prostate Cancer Should Be Considered, Researchers Recommend - Science Daily, 1/21/08 - "Finasteride is currently the only drug that has been shown to prevent prostate cancer in a large in addition to preventing prostate cancer, finasteride also reduces urinary-tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia. It also decreased sexual desire and caused impotence in 5 percent of the trial participants ... randomized trial but is used for this purpose in very few men"
• Diet And Medications May Assist Prevention Of Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 9/24/07 - "dutasteride, has reduced by 50 percent the number of cancerous biopsies among men with benign prostatic hypertrophy ... In one study of selenium, the incidence of prostate cancer was reduced by 49 percent over ten years ... Data already suggests novel uses of statins, commonly prescribed cholesterol-lowering agents, and insulin modulating drugs, such as metformin or the glitazones" - See dutasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Diet, Drugs May Stop Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 9/24/07
• Drug That Reduces Prostate Size And Cancer Risk Also Improves Early Detection - Science Daily, 9/11/07 - "Men now have another good reason to consider taking finasteride, a well-known generic drug that shrinks an enlarged prostate and reduces the risk of getting prostate cancer by 25 percent ... finasteride also raises the odds that physicians will find fast-growing prostate cancers early, when they are most easily treatable"
• Prostate Cancer Prediction Not Skewed by Finasteride - Medscape, 7/30/07 - "with the exception of the approximate reduction of PSA by half with finasteride, the impact of these risk factors is similar to men who do not receive finasteride"
• Prostate Drug Doesn't Limit Sexual Function In Most Men - Science Daily, 7/19/07 - "The study suggests that finasteride will cause little or no sexual dysfunction for most men who decide to take it"
• Prostate Drug May Not Dim Sex - WebMD, 6/26/07 - "Six months after the men started taking their assigned drugs, the survey scores were about three points higher for the men taking Proscar. By the end of the study, that gap narrowed to about two points"
• Hair-Loss Drug Alters Cancer Test - WebMD, 12/7/06 - "We found that Propecia does exactly the same thing as Proscar -- it cuts PSA in half after you use it for a year ... Unfortunately, cutting PSA in half doesn't mean that cancer risk is cut in half ... Instead, it means men on Propecia may have an unseen problem"
• Hair-Growth Drug Artificially Lowers PSA Levels in Prostate Cancer Screening - Doctor's Guide, 12/5/06 - "When doctors ask for their patients' medical history, they need to ask if they have taken any drugs for hair loss, and the doctors need to multiply the PSA readings by two"
• Finasteride as a Chemopreventive Agent in Prostate Cancer - Medscape, 9/15/06 - "Prostate cancer was detected in 803 of 4,368 men (18.4%) taking finasteride as opposed to 1,147 of the 4,692 men (24.4%) in the placebo group (P <0.001). This was a 24.8% relative risk reduction in prevalence of prostate cancer during the trial ,,, The PCPT has shown finasteride to be an effective chemopreventive agent in low-grade prostate cancer"
• Drug May Fight Women's Hair Loss, Too - WebMD, 3/20/06 - "Propecia, a drug used to treat male hair loss, may help fix women's hair loss when taken with birth control pills"
• Analysis Shows Drug Could Save Lives From Prostate Cancer - Science Daily, 3/16/05 - "the commonly used drug finasteride reduced the incidence of prostate cancer by 24.8 percent compared to a placebo. However, a possible increase in the number of high-grade tumors in the trial prompted many to question whether any benefits of the drug would be offset by an increase in mortality related to the higher-grade tumors. No difference in mortality was seen during the 7 years of PCPT"
• Prostate Cancer Drug Has Lifesaving Potential - WebMD, 2/28/05
• Finasteride Promising Treatment to Reduce Incidence of Prostate Cancer - Doctor's Guide, 2/28/05
• Sexual Adverse Effects Uncommon With Finasteride - Medscape, 7/19/04 - "Sexual adverse effects from the use of 1 mg of finasteride for the treatment of alopecia are not common"
• Testosterone Plus Finasteride Improves BMD in Men With Low Testosterone - Medscape, 2/25/04 - "The combination of testosterone (T) and finasteride (F) improves bone mineral density (BMD) in men with low T levels without increasing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels"
• Finasteride Treatment Associated with Lower Incidence of Prostate Cancer, But Also Higher Risk of High-Grade Disease and Sexual Dysfunction - Doctor's Guide, 10/20/03
• 2 in 1: Drug Works Against Baldness and Cancer - Physician's Weekly, 7/21/03
• Does Finasteride Prevent Prostate Cancer? - Medscape, 7/18/03
• Hair-Loss Drug Prevents Prostate Cancer - HealthDay, 7/16/03
• Public Forum Participants Cautiously Optimistic on New Finasteride Data - Doctor's Guide, 7/14/03
• Finasteride Reduced Prevalence of Prostate Cancer, But Not Without Risks - Doctor's Guide, 6/25/03
• Proscar for Prostate Cancer Prevention: Q&A - WebMD, 6/24/03 - "a drug called Proscar can also prevent or delay prostate cancer. It also shows that the drug may increase the risk of aggressive, high-grade prostate tumors. And while men taking Proscar have fewer urinary problems, they also have more sexual problems"
• Drug [finasteride] Prevents Prostate Cancer - HealthDay, 6/24/03
• Drug Prevents Prostate Cancer - WebMD, 6/24/03
• Men With Benign Prostate Hyperplasia, Obstruction Symptoms, Can Switch From Alpha-Blocker To Finasteride - Doctor's Guide, 5/5/03
• Sexual Adverse Events From Finasteride Most Prominent First Year - Medscape, 4/7/03
• Monthly Updates - Hair Loss Research, 10/01 - "While finasteride (Propecia/Proscar) decreases serum DHT, it also is thought to increase estrogen which suggests that men over 35 may want to consider using it in conjunction with a systemic aromatase inhibitor such as Chrysin/Piperine (Super Miraforte), Arimidex, or stinging nettle extract, to maximize its hair growth effects and minimize potential side effects (that are listed in the PDR) such as Gynocaemastia (breast enlargement in males), sexual side effects, and an increase in fat deposition. These compounds have been reliably shown to increase testosterone and reduce excess estrogen, resulting in a youthful hormone profile that optimizes immune function and to some degree, body composition"

Abstracts:

• Persistent Sexual Dysfunction with Finasteride 1 mg Taken for Hair Loss - Pharmacotherapy. 2016 Sep 19 - "persistent sexual dysfunction (PSD) ... The rate of PSD for finasteride 1 mg users and omeprazole users was 37.9 and 15.0 per 1000 person-years, respectively ... The risk of PSD in men who stopped finasteride 1 mg therapy was higher than that for omeprazole users. Patients who stopped finasteride therapy sought physician visits for sexual dysfunction up to 1 year after stopping finasteride" - Both are good to know but I don't get why they're comparing a proton pump inhibitor to a 5α-reductase inhibitor.
• A 5-year retrospective analysis of 5α-reductase inhibitors in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia: finasteride has comparable urinary symptom efficacy and prostate volume reduction, but less sexual side effects and breast complications than dutasteride - Int J Clin Pract. 2012 Nov;66(11):1052-5. doi - "The incidence of erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory dysfunction and decreased libido resulting in discontinuation from therapy was significantly (p<0.01) higher in the dutasteride (5.1%, 2.4%, 2.7% respectively) compared with the finasteride (2.1%, 1.8%, 1.4% respectively) group. In addition, the incidence of self-reported breast tenderness and/or enlargement was significantly (p<0.01) greater in the dutasteride (3.5%) compared with the finasteride (1.2%) group. Conclusions: In this retrospective analysis of data from consecutive patients treated at a single clinic, both finasteride and dutasteride were effective therapies for the management of lower urinary tract symptoms. However, dutasteride resulted in significantly more sexual side effects and breast complications than finasteride" - Note:  I'm not sure that makes sense.  The first sentence says "resulting in discontinuation from therapy"
• The utility of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors in the prevention and diagnosis of prostate cancer - Curr Opin Urol. 2009 Mar 21 - "finasteride reduced the risk of prostate cancer by approximately 25% in comparison with placebo" - See finasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Does the level of prostate cancer risk affect cancer prevention with finasteride? - Urology. 2008 May;71(5):854-7 - "Finasteride significantly reduced prostate cancer risk for all risk quintiles. For quintiles 1 through 5, odds ratios were 0.72, 0.52, 0.64, 0.66, and 0.71, respectively"
• The Rationale for Inhibiting 5alpha-Reductase Isoenzymes in the Prevention and Treatment of Prostate Cancer - J Urol. 2008 Feb 14 - "The 2 5alpha-reductase inhibitors currently clinically available are finasteride, a type 2 5alpha-reductase inhibitor, and dutasteride, a dual 5alpha-reductase inhibitor. Dual inhibition by dutasteride has been shown to translate into a greater degree and consistency of dihydrotestosterone suppression compared with finasteride. The Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial showed that finasteride significantly decreased the 7-year risk of prostate cancer in men with prostate specific antigen 3.0 ng/ml or less, while the ongoing Reduction by Dutasteride of Prostate Cancer Events study is assessing whether dutasteride decreases the risk of biopsy detectable prostate cancer in men with prostate specific antigen 2.5 to 10 ng/ml and a previous negative biopsy"
• The importance of dual 5alpha-reductase inhibition in the treatment of male pattern hair loss: results of a randomized placebo-controlled study of dutasteride versus finasteride - J Am Acad Dermatol. 2006 Dec;55(6):1014-23 - "Dutasteride increased target area hair count versus placebo in a dose-dependent fashion and dutasteride 2.5 mg was superior to finasteride at 12 and 24 weeks" - Note:  Dutasteride is Avodart®.  See dutasteride at OffshoreRx1.com.
• Should finasteride be used to prevent prostate cancer? - Curr Treat Options Oncol. 2006 Sep;7(5):346-54 - "At trial's end, there was a 25% reduction in period prevalence in all prostate cancers (24.4% for placebo vs 18.4% for finasteride)"
• Finasteride-induced depression : A prospective study - BMC Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Oct 7;6(1):7 - "finasteride might induce depressive symptoms; therefore this medication should be prescribed cautiously for patients with high risk of depression"