Could Cutting the 5mg Finasteride Pill Result in Poor Absorption?

Hello Doctor Rassman!

Huge Balding Blog fan here! Have you considered selling official ‘Balding Blog’ T-shirts? Regardless, my wife thinks it’s nuts I have this site bookmarked, but it’s an invaluable resource!

My question is this:

I’ve switched from Merck Propecia (1mg) to generic Teva Finasteride (5mg). When I cut the pill into 1/4 (1.25mg), I get a fair amount of powder that comes out of the pill. Undoubtedly, when I put the pill into my mouth, my saliva would break down some finasteride. I guess my worry is that by splitting the pill, exposing the white powder, and swallowing is resulting in poor absorption.

A picture of the pill is here: photo

What are your thoughts?

Thanks!

Thank you for following the site. We played with the idea of selling BaldingBlog shirts, but the idea never took off simply because we really didn’t think anyone would buy them.

Splitting the 5mg finasteride pill in quarters should not have any clinical significance on absorption or effectiveness. My Propecia drug representative from Merck has raised this question before, but there are conflict of interests there as you may guess.