In the News – Propecia Can Skew Prostate Cancer Testing

Found these in the news yesterday —

• Forbes – Hair-Loss Drug Skews Prostate Cancer Test
• ABC News – Hair-Loss Drug May Affect Prostate Tests
• The Cancer Blog – Propecia can artificially lower PSA levels

Much of what was written in these articles has been written before. There has been recently released data to indicate that the people who did develop prostate cancer had no more aggressive cancer than those in the untreated group based upon the course of the disease. The news release, which was the basis for the above articles, fails to discuss the drop of cancer risks by 25% that has been well documented and physicians, like me, believe that this drug reduces the risks of prostate cancer. If men get frightened by findings like those in this news release, those that react to it will be on a fast track to balding. Everything in life, I guess, is risky, but for those people who have had a wonderful reduction or reversal of balding from finasteride, giving up the drug will reverse all of the benefits within a few months. That is one hell of a price to pay.