The FDA has just issued a warning of an increased risk of high-grade prostate cancer with some drugs currently approved to treat benign prostatic hypertrophy. They are the 5-alpha reductase inhibitors finasteride (Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart).
The FDA has announced today that it has updated the Warnings and Precautions section of labels for this class of drugs as some other drugs that fall under this class are marketed for other indications as well. Avodart, Proscar and Jalyn are approved to treat an enlarged prostate.
Propecia, at a 1 mg dose, is widely used and approved for hair loss in men.
Excerpt taken from FDA Warns of High-Grade Prostate Ca Risk with BPH Drugs by Emily P. Walker, Washington Correspondent, MedPage Today Published: June09,2011
Committee vote of 17-0 in December that GlaxoSmithKline’s dutasteride and Merck’s finasteride should not be used to prevent prostate cancer because the drugs are linked to a higher incidence of high-grade tumors.
How to handle low-grade prostate cancer is controversial in the urology community, in part because it is unknown if the low-grade tumors would ever develop into high-grade tumors, and also because the method used to originally detect prostate cancer — the PSA test — is inexact.
About 5 million men received a prescription for a 5-ARI between 2002 and 2009, according to the FDA.
Out of the 5 million men, I wonder how many received a prescription for Propecia?
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Have a Great Day!
Donna
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Related articles
- Is prostate cancer treatable? (zocdoc.com)
- FDA expands cancer warning on two popular prostate drugs (usatoday.com)
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