Category: Drugs

Just wanted to know, if finasteride supposedly regrows or maintains hair for men. Why isn’t it considered a temporary cure for hairloss?

Is this just a question about the nomenclature? A “cure” is defined as a complete or permanent solution, which means it wouldn’t be temporary.

If you take a medication to control your blood pressure, that wouldn’t be called a “temporary cure” for high blood pressure — and the same goes for a hair loss treatment like Propecia (finasteride 1mg). It is not a cure, but it does help reverse the thinning (initially), slow down the hair loss, or maintain what you have.

Doctor,

I’ve been on propecia daily for 9 months. however, I went to Spain for the weekend and forgot my pills. 48 hours+ from one pill to another. Will this alter its effectiveness in anyway?

Thanks

There is enough Propecia fixed to your hair follicles, which makes the 2 or 3 days you skipped OK. Just take it as normal when you’re back home.

In early 2011 I had a rare adrenal tumor removed called a pheochromocytoma. Doctors also removed the affected adrenal gland the tumor was attached to. This type of tumor spontaneously, without provocation, releases epinephrine, norepinephrine and dopamine. Chemicals collectively referred to as catecholamines. These are your fight or flight chemicals and when the tumor releases them you feel very “wound up”. After the tumor was removed, my catecholamine levels went back to normal and I again felt normal.

In late 2011 I started Propecia. I started on .5 milligrams per day and later reduced that dose to .5 milligrams 3x per week, which I am currently taking. A dose much lower than the standard dose of 1 milligram per day. Almost immediately after starting Propecia, I began to feel like I did when I had the tumor. Spontaneously “wound up” even in the absence of external stimulus.

Recent testing reveals my catecholamine blood levels are back up and my oncologist suspects another tumor. Appropriate scans for tumor detection are occurring “as we speak”.

Are you aware of any evidence that Propecia can cause elevated levels of epinephrine, norepinephrine or dopamine? I have read numerous claims that Propecia can cause anxiety. If this is true, could this anxiety then trigger a “chemical cascade” in which catecholamines are released at high levels.

Thank you for your expertise in this matter.

I know I must sound like a broken record, but you really need to discuss personal medical issues with your doctor.

I wouldn’t expect Propecia to have anything to do with dopamine or other catecholamines. Propecia is a 5 alpha reductase inhibitor, which works to diminish the conversion of testosterone to dihydrotestosterone (DHT).

In my experience, the anxiety caused by Propecia are in those men who read too much about Propecia’s side effects on the Internet without discussing the issues with their doctor. Then again, anxiety could indeed be a rare symptom associated with Propecia, but it’s something that needs further study. The studies that I’ve seen which link Propecia to anxiety or depression were based on interviews with men from a Propecia complaint forum, and the bias is something I’ve discussed before.

Hello dr Rassman, i’m sure you have read the 10 years old finasteride study being conducted on 118 men. It was found that 10 years later 86% of men had the same hair compared to the baseline. Do you believe this is true from your experience?

The uncontrolled study you’re referring to is this — Finasteride, 1 mg daily administration on male androgenetic alopecia in different age groups: 10-year follow-up.

And to answer your question — yes. I don’t know if my percentages would line up exactly since I haven’t done the statistical analysis, but this drug is very effective at stabilizing hair loss as I see it on a daily basis in the patients I’ve been treating (some for over 10 years).

We received quite a few phone calls and emails after yesterday’s post about Dr Reddy’s 1mg finasteride (generic Propecia) now becoming available in the US, so we called some pharmacies in the Los Angeles area to get pricing/availability info:

Costco:

In stock! $47.37 per 30 day supply at Hawthorne, CA location (compared to $73.92 for name brand Propecia). Costco has an online price checker, but it’s not showing the 1mg generic in the system yet.

Target:

In stock! $67.99 per 30 day supply at Los Angeles location on La Cienega (compared to $73.92 for name brand Propecia)

CVS:

In stock! $70 per 30 day supply (compared to $98 for name brand Propecia)

Walmart:

Not in stock as of this posting (Jan 8, 2013)

Walgreens:

Not in stock as of this posting (Jan 8, 2013)

Rite Aid:

Not in stock as of this posting (Jan 8, 2013)

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There isn’t a significant savings from the generic at CVS or Target, but Costco has the lowest price so far at under $48/mo. It doesn’t seem like there will be a huge drop in price until perhaps the 180 day exclusive window is up and other pharmaceutical companies can make their generic Propecia available. I have no estimates on what the price point might be 6-12 months from today, but I hope the price does come down considerably in that time.

Pricing and availability could change at any point, so you should call your local pharmacy for info.

Photo source: Twitter @KerriLynn_C (hat tip to KP)

Snippet from the press release —

Drug firm Dr Reddy’s Laboratories today said it has launched its generic Finasteride tablets used for treating male pattern hair loss in the American market.

The company has launched Finasteride tablets in the strength of 1 mg in the US market on January 2 following the approval of its abbreviated new drug application (ANDA) with 180 days of marketing exclusivity, Dr Reddy’s Laboratories said in a statement.

Read the rest — Dr Reddy’s launches tablets to treat hair loss

So it sounds like Dr Reddy’s has a 6 month exclusive window to sell their brand of generic Propecia before other pharmaceutical companies can legally make their brands for sale in the US.

I’m not sure if they’ll keep the Finax name they were using to sell 1mg finasteride in other countries or if they’ll go with something new, but if anyone out there has picked up some of their 1mg finasteride, let us know in the comments!