Baldness, prostate drugs may have more sexual side effects than once thought
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Two drugs used for treating male baldness and enlarged prostate may have more possible sexual side effects than previously thought, the New York Daily News reported.
The Merck drugs – Propecia and Proscar – contain the active ingredient finasteride, which may cause adverse sexual events such as libido disorders.
The US Food and Drug Administration said Propecia, a baldness treatment drug, will get a new label that will include “libido disorders . . . and orgasm disorders that continued after discontinuation of the drug.” Proscar, a drug to treat enlarged prostate, will include on its new label “decreased libido that continued after discontinuation of the drug.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The label changes are occurring after many patients reported additional adverse effects that were not seen at the time of the drugs’ approval, the FDA said.
The agency, along with Merck, stated that a causal relationship between finasteride and sexual side effects had not been clearly established.