In the News – Propecia Prevents Prostate Cancer

Snippet from the article:

For the first time, leading medical groups are advising millions of healthy men who are regularly screened for prostate cancer to consider taking a drug to prevent the disease.

The advice stops short of saying men should take the drug finasteride, sold in generic form and as Proscar. It is already widely used for urinary problems from enlarged prostates as men age. Merck and Co sells it as the baldness remedy Propecia. However, it has not been widely prescribed as a cancer preventive, and it may carry some risks. The new guidance tells men to talk to their doctors and decide for themselves if the good outweighs the bad. This advice is bound to be confusing, doctors admit. For one thing, it doesn’t apply to men who choose not to have screening with PSA blood tests, which no major medical groups recommend.

In men who are regularly screened, finasteride can cut the odds of being diagnosed with prostate cancer by about 25 percent.

See the full article: FOXNews.com – Medical Groups Advise Men to Take Baldness Drug to Prevent Prostate Cancer

For those that already take finasteride, it’s likely not news to you that the medication has prostate cancer prevention benefits (I’ve mentioned it as far back as 2005). Finasteride was at first used as a prostate treatment called Proscar (in 5mg dosage), with Propecia becoming available as a hair loss treament a few years later (in 1mg dosage). Still, it is important to point out the health benefits of this drug.

Here’s the National Cancer Institute’s page about their Prostate Cancer Prevention Trials, since there’s bound to be questions — Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial (PCPT).