In the News – Canadian Class Action Suit Against Merck
Snippet from the article:
A class action was filed today in the Supreme Court of British Columbia by Vancouver resident, Michael Miller, against Merck Frosst Canada and its affiliated companies. The lawsuit has been brought on behalf of Canadian men who used Propecia or Proscar and suffered continuing sexual dysfunction.
Propecia and Proscar are prescribed as a cosmetic treatment for male pattern hair loss also known as androgenic alopecia. The product monograph discloses that some men may experience sexual dysfunction but states that the symptoms disappear after cessation of the drug.
Mr. Miller, who is in his early 20s, was concerned when his hair started to thin in some areas. He was prescribed Proscar which he hoped would stop his hair from thinning.
Read the full story — Class action filed against manufacturer of Propecia & Proscar
If this young man was in his early 20s and prescribed Proscar without being told to cut the pill into a smaller daily dose to treat hair loss, his chances for side effects would’ve increased. Proscar is 5mg finasteride used to treat prostate issues. Propecia is 1mg finasteride used to treat hair loss. So if you’re taking 5x the recommended dose, what would you expect?
We’ll see how this class action suit plays out…
comon doc, most likely he was cutting the pill, they just don’t mention it on the article. I don’t dont think the prescribing doctor is that stupid to tell him to take 5mg finasteride.
I’m just going by what is written in the article.
People should know this stuff by now. Ignorance is bliss. Just somebody looking for an easy way out.
those look like ambulance chasers to me
It doesn’t cost any money for attorneys to begin trolling the blogs for disgruntled individuals (and encourage others to join in “class action†lawsuits). Let’s see what the evidence shows.
lazerfish. I have a hard time believign that you took 20mg of finasteride. its people like you on the internet that state wrong/untruthful info.
Similarly Dr Rassman, your virtually blocking all DHT with Finesteride, the most potent Androgen in the human body. Do you genuinely believe this is going to have no adverse effects? It defies all logic.
What do you expect?
I’m not a moron, I know about IP adresses.
I can post under whatever name I like.
Merck Shill.
But thanks for proving the point that I’ve made over and over… that it’s people like yourself that contribute to the fear by making it appear to be a larger problem than it is in reality. So it’s not Paul, Dan, John, and Dave all with issues on various pages of this site, but in fact it’s just one guy flaming across the web…
I’m no shill, but thanks for visiting!
Hopefully this brings to light of the potential dangers of this drug.
Anyone who thinks that hormone altering drugs cannot have negative long term effects needs to get their heads out of the sand.
Too Eli:
“DHT is a problem as well.”
While DHT may contribute to cancerous prostate tumor growth, DHT serves a number of purposes in the male body. DHT is present in all males, and the majority of men do not get prostate cancer. DHT is only a problem if you are concerned with balding, and even at that, DHT is not the only factor for developing hair loss.
Blocking the 5 alpha reductase enzyme is akin to blocking the effectiveness of one’s immune system. Yes, there are times when doing such may be necessary to save a person’s life, but for healthy people, blocking a natural function of the body can cause major disruptions.
Unfortunately, many people view the the body as a series of exclusive events, not a system where changing one part can have downstream consequences.
~B
To concerned:
makes sense. never looked at it that way. Do you know other things that use the enzyme 5 alpha reductase enzyme type 2 for conversion by any chance?
I forgot to mention this as well. The high grade prostate tumors finasteride is responsible for. I mean its still inconclusive but the risk is there.
I await with great interest what comes out in this trial. It is unclear whether the patient was cutting the tablet up or not. Some people think if 1mg can reduce hair loss or grow hair, then hell why not take 5mg or 20mg, it might grow even more hair !
In any event whether he was taking 1mg or 5mg it is extremely worrying that the side effects weren’t reversible.
Hi Eli: To answer your question, I was sneaking around going to about 3 doctors(one of which was a hair transplant surgeon) and getting them to prescribe it for me on the basis of an article from Men’s Health magazine I believe that I read waaaaaayyyy back in around 1991 (not exactly sure now) that said a new drug (Proscar) newly released for BPH had hopes for male pattern baldness.
Since at that time 1991-92, the listed side effects were quite small, they prescribed it for me. My health insurance paid for it cause at that time they had no idea of it’s off label use that I was using it for.
Yes, in those early yrs of hair loss for me I would have done ANYTHING to stop my hairloss. So I figured the more the better.
Funny thing is, the 20mg dose didn’t produce results any better than 5mg.
Now, 20 yrs later, my treatment consists of Xandrox 15Plus (once a day in the evenings, wash it out in the morning), Avodart (0.5mg per day, sometimes 1mg if I am too lazy to apply the Xandrox), and Low Level Laser Therapy 3 times a week.
I’m 45 healthy, in good shape for my age, happily married with two healthy kids….No worries.
Good luck to you too!
Mike!
Mike!
Read between the lines. I’m not suggesting it was one person making a complaint all over the entire internet. I was merely pointing out how easy it is to make the issue seem bigger than it is by using different names. The only reason I can think of why someone would want to use different names to make the same complaint on a forum (or this site, as is the case), is to try to deceive people. If you came to my site under 10 different names making the same complaint, the average reader might assume that is 10 people with a problem, when in reality it is 1.
My mind is open, but I tend to trust scientific peer-reviewed studies as opposed to anonymous people on internet forums. Call me old fashioned. I’m not suggesting your husband’s issue isn’t real… but there is no data to back up these claims and I’m not going to sound the alarm when I’ve never seen a confirmed case among my own patients or in any scientific journal. I’m obviously open to discussion on this or I wouldn’t bother posting anything about it.