The news has spread far and wide through the hair loss community that the Food and Drug Administration expanded their warning last Thursday on a group of drugs which includes finasteride (Proscar/Propecia), stating that using these drugs may increase the risk of high grade prostate cancer.
The latest warning indicates that 5 alpha reductase inhibitors (which include the hair loss drug Propecia) are linked to a greater risk of high grade prostate cancers. However, many physicians, including prostate cancer specialists, believe that these drugs actually improve the ability to detect aggressive tumors that already exist in patients, which can prove to be life saving.
According to Otis Brawley, M.D., chief medical officer and executive vice president of the American Cancer Society, this latest FDA warning has been misinterpreted by many and he felt it was important to set the record straight.
Spencer Kobren speaks with Dr. Otis Brawley of The American Cancer Society
