Hair-Loss Drug Blamed for Multiple Problems

[The Straight Story]

Hair-Loss Drug Blamed for Multiple Problems


LOS ANGELES (CN) - A man who took the male pattern baldness drug Propecia for four years claims it gave him "severe sexual dysfunction and cognitive impairment."
Jason McCord sued Merck & Co. in Federal Court.

Merck has been sued at least 15 times in the past two years for similar claims, according to the Courthouse News database.

...

"The rates of the sexual dysfunction as a result of finasteride are reported to be as high as 39 percent in published clinical studies. In addition, it has been reported in 2003 that only 50 percent of patients experience resolution of their sexual function adverse events after discontinuation of finasteride."
The U.S. FDA approved Propecia for hair loss in 1997 and more than one million people have taken it by prescription, McCord says.

...

He claims: "Defendants knew or should have known that Propecia, when taken as prescribed and intended, causes and contributes to an increased risk of persistent and/or permanent serious and dangerous side effects including, without limitation, cognitive impairment, development of depression, and various forms of sexual dysfunction such as erectile dysfunction, reduced ejaculate volume, diminished or reduced libido, reduced sexual sensation and/or infertility ('sexual dysfunction') even after discontinuation of use."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/01/10/42897.htm

[alcibiades_mystery]

1. There's an appropriate irony in the idea that a drug mainly meant for vanity

produces substantive sexual dysfunction.

It's like a weird Devil's bargain: you get your shiny, lustrous hair, but your dick no longer works.

It's like the old Pynchon joke of the guy who dreams he has a giant screw in his stomach that he tries, night after night to get out. He finally manages to unscrew it, and his ass falls off.

[TygrBright]

2. One has to wonder which is the gravamen of the charge...

...the sexual dysfunction or the cognitive impairment?

Or is that redundant? I can never tell with some guys...

ironically,
Bright

[Lint Head]

3. The same drug is used for enlarged prostate glands and is very effective.

So it is not all vanity.

[phleshdef]

4. I'm glad that I decided to just keep my head nearly shaved and not worry about it otherwise.

Lose it with grace fellas. It ain't the end of the world.

[Liberal Veteran]

6. Nah. If that happened, we wouldn't be able to laugh at bad wigs and combovers.

[Phoonzang]

7. Yeah that sentiment is sooo widespread but heads that look good bald are not.

Including my own. Being a single male with the choice between exposing my weird, lumpy head or having a ridiculous looking hairline...it kind of is the end of the world. So...I want them to keep doing research on baldness treatments. If they can do it for boner pills, they can do it for....anti-balding treatments.

[phleshdef]

9. Yea, the DNA fairy might have taken my hair early, but she did give me a nicely shaped dome.

If they ever discover an inexpensive, relatively painless, safe way to fix baldness, I've no problem with that. I just don't see the point in putting yourself through painful surgeries or exposing yourself to questionable chemicals over it. And a misshaped bald head still looks better than an obvious wig or bad combover, IMO.

[Phoonzang]

10. Well I have to agree with you on that. There's no way I'm doing surgery or meds.

I do think about Rogaine some days though...

[Liberal Veteran]

5. Finasteride is also marketed as Proscar for benign prostatic hyperplasia (enlarged prostate)

I know I will come off as shill for pharma, but I am pretty sure the side effects of finasteride are fairly well documented.

It just so happens that one of the side effects of the drug for BPH is hair growth due to what it does to reduce symptoms of BPH.

Sorta like the side effect of minoxidil.

Or even Viagra/Revatio (which are the same drug for different indications, respectively erectile dysfunction/pulmonary hypertension)

[Lint Head]

8. You are right.