The Blog

“By: John Peige

Doctors at two of this country’s leading medical schools have linked the hair growth drug Propecia to prolonged and possibly irreversible male sexual dysfunction, clinical depression, breast cancer and high-grade prostate cancer. The drug was approved by the FDA in 1997 to promote hair growth in men suffering from male pattern baldness.

As devastating as these revelations are, millions of men who have been prescribed the drug Propecia have no idea that they may be at risk.

Even worse, many doctors continue to prescribe Propecia unaware of the drug’s shocking side effects. Propecia is manufactured by drug giant Merck & Co., one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies.

Propecia is the brand name for the drug finasteride when it is prescribed in 1mg doses to treat male pattern baldness. (When finasteride is prescribed in 5mg doses to treat enlarged prostate – also known as benign prostatic hyperplasia or BPH — it is sold under the brand name Proscar.)

Propecia’s sexual side effects include erectile dysfunction, impotence, greatly reduced libido, testicular pain, problems with orgasms and gynecomastia – an over-development of the male breast frequently associated with social and emotional trauma in men.

“As my study shows, there are very real sexual health issues that are affecting a population of previously healthy men ranging in age from 21 to 46 years old who took Propecia,” says George Washington University Professor Michael S. Irwig, M.D., whose ground-breaking research published last year in the Journal of Sexual Medicine was one of the first studies to report on Propecia’s dreadful side effects.

Dr. Irwig serves as the Director for the University’s Center for Andrology and is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at GW’s School of Medicine. He received his medical degree from New York’s Cornell University, served an internal medicine residency at the University of Virginia and practiced endocrinologyat Baltimore’s Sinai Hospital before taking his current position. Late last week, he sat down for an exclusive interview with The Examiner at his Washington, DC office.

“I first became interested in this area several years ago when several men reported they had developed persistent sexual dysfunction while taking the medication.” As the number of men encountering side effects increased, Dr. Irwig decided to initiate his study which was non-funded.

“Seventy-one men participated in the research and about half were from outside the United States. I have seen patients from as far away as Australia and England,” says Dr. Irwig. He found that 94 percent developed low libido, 92 percent developed erectile dysfunction and decreased arousal, and 69 percent developed problems with orgasm.

“It turns out that almost all had multiple sexual function problems. Men reported average all inclusive sexual activity of approximately 26 episodes per month before taking Propecia, but there was an almost two-thirds reduction in sexual activity after using the drug.”

While the FDA issued a new warning regarding Propecia’s link to high-grade prostate cancer — the most aggressive and deadly form of the disease — the agency has been ineffective in getting the word out to prescribing doctors regarding the growing evidence of Propecia’s substantial side effects. The FDA has not issued any warnings or recalls regarding those sexually destructive symptoms.

“It’s been very frustrating for a lot of these men because they’ve sought care from medical professionals who are unaware of the risk of persistent and serious sexual dysfunction since it was not originally suggested in the literature,” Dr. Irwig said.”

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