I Don’t Want to Invite Breast Cancer by Taking Finasteride!
Dear Dr,
My dermatologist has suggested me “Finax” (Dr.reddy’s Lab) 1 MG and 2% minoxidil and Aminexil topical lotion (Since Iam allergic to 5% it causes itching in my case). Now I went through this web site: MHRAIt explains the possibility of breast cancer in men with Finasteride(5 mg). I dont know whether you have answered this question previously or not. Now After purchased finax for 3 months (90 tablets) what am I supposed to do? I dont want to invite the risk of breast cancer for the sake of hair. And have you seen any cases of male breast cancer which I think is very rare compared to female.
Dr. Reddy’s Finax is generic finasteride and sold in 1mg and 5mg doses. I believe that their production in India is an FDA approved facility, but sale of the generic 1mg in the US would be a violation of the patent rights of Merck… which is why this medication isn’t available here in the US yet.
I’ve never seen a case of breast cancer from finasteride and some recent studies of a few thousand men failed to show the connection that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warns of. For women who have a history of breast cancer, there may be an increased risk when taking finasteride… and this is just one of the reasons the medication isn’t approved for women. The MHRA warning itself states, “Fifty cases of male breast cancer have been reported worldwide with the use of 5 mg finasteride (Proscar) and three cases have been reported with the use of 1 mg finasteride (Propecia).” So there have been 3 cases of male breast cancer out of the million+ Propecia users?
The warning also mentions, “the overall incidence of male breast cancer in clinical trials in patients who received 5 mg finasteride was not significantly different compared to patients who did not receive finasteride” — so why was there a warning at all? I don’t know how a connection could even be made. If you’re really worried about this, don’t take the medication. It’s not worth the anxiety. Personally though, I don’t see how this is significant enough to warrant a warning at all.
hello doc,
could you please name (or link, if possible) these studies that go against the MHRA review?
Thank you very much.
What are you talking about Jack?
Everything Dr. Rassman quoted in his response was from the link provided in the question.
Dr. Rassman wrote:
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I asked for the references of these studies
I’m writing an article for a magazine about hairloss medications and I’d like to include the quoted information when speaking about the MHRA review.
the quoted part in the previous message was:
“some recent studies of a few thousand men failed to show the connection that the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) warns of.”
I feel the same way! I never want to be in the situation where I wonder if I developed cancer because of a lifestyle choice!