Study: Propecia Side Effects May Include Prostate Cancer

Washington, DCDespite the fact that the medication is designed to treat the condition, health officials said recently that Propecia side effects may actually include an increased risk of patients developing a more serious form of prostate cancer.

According to Reuters, Propecia, in addition to Proscar, Avodar and Jalyn, are designed to treat symptoms of an enlarged prostate gland. Propecia, which is manufactured by Merck & Co. is also used to treat male pattern hair loss.

However, after two recent substantial studies examining these medications, the US Food and Drug Administration has reportedly decided to upgrade their labels to reflect the new side effects potential.

The controlled studies reportedly discovered that when using the drugs, called 5-alpha reductase inhibitors (5-ARI), on a daily basis for several years, patients lowered their risk for developing low-level prostate cancer, but actually increased their chances for having higher-level forms of the disease, which could grow more quickly.

"This risk appears to be low, but health care professionals should be aware of this safety information, and weigh the known benefits against the potential risks when deciding to start or continue treatment with 5-ARIs in men," the federal agency said in a statement.

The FDA said that while these risks were real, they were still outweighed by the benefits of the drugs. Approximately 5 million male patients received prescriptions for such drugs between 2002 and 2009, the agency said.

Many of the drugs in this class, including Propecia, contain finasteride, which has also been linked in a number of recent lawsuits to permanent sexual dysfunction in males.

According to the Ledger, Florida resident Eddie Sebastia filed a lawsuit against Merck in May, claiming his use of Propecia to treat hair loss led to erectile dysfunction and related emotional problems, such as anxiety and depression.

In the lawsuit, Sebastia claims that despite a warning posted on Merck's website about the small risk of sexual dysfunction, the drug company does not sufficiently warn patients about the true consequences Propecia use can cause.

"The statements by Merck regarding Propecia are deceptive and misleading in that they fail to advise potential uses of Propecia that numerous users of the product have reported suffering persistent and permanent side effects even after discontinuing use," the lawsuit states.