Popular baldness drug linked to male breast cancer
Health Canada is informing healthcare practitioners and patients of a labelling update for finasteride drugs to add safety information on rare reports of breast cancer in men.
Aug 2011
A popular drug used by men across the country to treat pattern
baldness could come with an unwanted side effect: an increased risk
of breast cancer.
Although the apparent risks are low,
Health Canada issued a warning
Thursday telling consumers the drug, finasteride, could be
potentially dangerous. The drug, which comes in one-milligram and
five-milligram formats, is used in the lower dose to treat baldness
and the higher dose to treat non-cancerous enlarged prostate.
Previous studies have raised flags about the five-milligram format,
sold in Canada under the brand name Proscar, including an increased
risk of prostate cancer.
Health Canada says a small number of breast-cancer cases have been
reported worldwide among patients who took the drug in either dose.
Previous research has found the drug can lead to prolonged sexual
dysfunction, prompting men in Canada and the United States to sue
drug maker Merck & Co. Inc.
The warning raises questions about whether men will stick with the
medication, sold under the one-milligram format as Propecia, if they
are using it for purely cosmetic reasons.
Many other drugs, procedures and treatments come with a serious risk
of side effects or health problems, but there continues to be a
market for them, highlighting the lengths some will go for the sake
of appearances.
Last fall, Health Canada warned consumers that the wildly popular
Brazilian-style blowout hair treatments contain levels of
formaldehyde, which has been linked to cancer, that exceed federal
standards. Yet there continues to be a market for the products
around the world.
Botox treatments can cause toxins to spread to distant parts of the
body, which can lead to death, muscle weakness, swallowing problems,
pneumonia, speech disorders and breathing problems.
A host of diet pills that have been on the market in recent decades
have been linked to everything from an higher risk of death to
increased heart rate. Although some people take diet pills to treat
life-threatening obesity, they have been popular for years among
women and men looking to stay trim.
That’s not to mention invasive cosmetic procedures, from facelifts
to liposuction, that continue to be sought after by those unhappy
with their appearances.
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