Emerging evidence & commentary on risks of finasteride as a treatment for hair loss
Today’s episode of the popular Huberman Lab Podcast is titled “The Science of Healthy Hair, Hair Loss and How to Regrow Hair.” It includes a five-minute discussion of post-finasteride syndrome. In the segment, Huberman raises an issue that has been little-discussed in the literature: the role of the androgen dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in development throughout the … Read more
Over the past 25 years, finasteride harms have spread invisibly, altering lives and giving rise to confusion and disagreement. This post identifies common themes across all these spheres. Many of these have to do with biases, omissions and collusion among industry, physicians and regulators.
Physician-researchers blamed growing safety concerns on patients, overlooking social context and weaknesses in safety regime The official view of Propecia, fashioned by Merck at a reported cost of $450 million, is that the drug is safe and effective. Upon approval by FDA in 1997, this view was carried forward by dermatologists, some of whom were … Read more
Despite serious methodological shortcomings—including the preposterous use of on-drug safety data as a proxy for a post-drug condition—the authors nevertheless blame the post-drug syndrome on patient shortcomings. Zhang et al. have yoked bad logic to biased data in order to deflect attention away from drug harms.
A thread originally posted on Twitter is reproduced below. For an in-depth version, see the essay Context matters. See also a critique of three previous papers with similar designs, findings and conclusions. Twitter thread Nguyen et al, 2022 is the fourth analysis of adverse events of finasteride to appear since 2018. All four studies play … Read more
A 2018 article disclosed that Dr. Kevin McVary had been retained as an expert for Merck’s defense in litigation regarding persistent adverse effects (AEs) of finasteride.1 Dr. McVary has also been relatively active as a contributor of three conference abstracts, an original article, an expert review, a quote in a media story and a symposium presentation … Read more
Several members of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS) have argued that persistent adverse effects of finasteride are improbable or invalid. The Society’s journal, Hair Transplant Forum International, has published numerous articles on the topic (the journal is not peer-reviewed). Subscriptions are limited to ISHRS members, but full text of some articles is … Read more
Summary It cannot simultaneously be true that finasteride is considered “safe” as a treatment for male pattern hair loss and that the drug causes severe and permanent sexual dysfunction in some men. Since 2011, dozens of papers have investigated its adverse effects, with some concluding that finasteride is safe for treating hair loss despite complaints … Read more
In eight years of thinking and talking about health problems which I believe resulted from taking finasteride, reactions from others have ranged from compassion to curiosity, skepticism and stonewalling. Symptoms include numb genitals and total loss of sexual desire. When bringing these up, I feel I am testing the boundaries of propriety. When people feel … Read more