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The Finasteride Riddle, Stewart Justman

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

Designed to test finasteride’s potential to cut the incidence of prostate cancer, the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial yielded a paradoxical finding: a decrease in low-grade PCa accompanied by an apparent increase in high-grade disease. As a result of these questionable benefits and apparent harms, the FDA has not approved finasteride for chemoprevention. While recently published follow-up data from PCPT suggests that concern over the risks of finasteride may be unfounded, it also shows that the drug has not saved lives. It may seem that the one remaining role for finasteride is as an adjunct to PSA testing, serving to reduce …