OK, so you may probably have already heard (if not you are about to) that Propecia is the same medication as Proscar made by the same company, Merck. Right, but here are all the facts and details about it that you may or may not have learned.
Proscar was the first drug developed by Merck & Co, also know as Merck, Sharpe and Dohme. Proscar was initially approved to treat BPH or Benign Prostate Hyperplasia. BPH is non-cancerous prostate enlargement that occurs in many men as they get older. It was discovered that BPH was caused by an increase in the hormone DHT or dihydrotestosterone. The drug Proscar or FINASTERIDE was developed to block the formation of DHT in the body which in turn would stop the enlargement of the prostate.
Proscar quickly proved to be a very effective anti-androgen or DHT blocker. It wasn't long before a very interesting additional effect was taking place in men taking Proscar, their hair loss was slowing down and in many cases they were actually growing hair on the scalp where it was previously lost due to male pattern baldness. It was discovered that DHT in addition to enlarging the prostate was also the main culprit in male pattern hair loss. DHT accumulates in the scalp and atrophies the follicles causing hair loss.
With this discovery Merck quickly moved to test the drug finasteride for hair loss. After extensive research and testing finasteride was finally approved by the FDA in 1997 to treat hair hair loss in men. The tested and approved dosage for men is 1 mg daily, whereas the dosage to treat prostate enlargement is 5 mg daily. So in 1997, Merck aggressively began marketing PROPECIA, or finasteride in a 1 mg dose.
It didn't take long for cost conscience consumers to realize that the retail price for Proscar was about the same as the retail price for Propecia. The main difference of course being that Proscar is a 5 time stronger dose than Propecia. So the consumer learned quickly to pick up a handy pill cutter and buy proscar tablets and cut into 4ths or 5ths and taking a piece daily, thereby achieving an approximate 1 mg daily dose. By so doing the consumer could quickly save as much as 60% on the price of Propecia by buying Proscar instead. Since that time, some questions have arisen about this practice and if it is the best way to go or not. Below we will try to *answer some of these questions.
Is Proscar really made by the same company as Propecia? Yes, Proscar is made by Merck & Co. the same company that manufactures Propecia
Is the finasteride drug spread unevenly throughout the Proscar tablet? Some people have speculated on this, but there is no evidence that this is the case. There are inactive ingredients in the pill, but the medication in general should appear mixed randomnly throughout. One way to assure that you are getting enough finasteride in each piece since the Proscar pills are very small is to cut the pill into 4ths. It would be virtually impossible to not get at least 1 mg of finasteride in a 4th of a Proscar tablet evenly split.
Should I cut the Proscar tablets into 4ths or 5ths? Most of our customers recommend cutting the tablets into 4ths for the reasons mentioned in the previous question. In addition it is not harmful to get a higher dose than 1 mg
Generic Propecia or brand name Proscar? The price for brand name Proscar cut into 4ths or 5ths is nearly the same as generic Propecia sold across the Internet now-a-days. Be cautioned that many sites sell inferior generic products that are extremely sub standard as compared to name brands. Even worse, many companies peddle junk generics which many times contain little or no active ingredients. Given these issues and possibilities, many men prefer not to risk it. For almost the same price and just an added few seconds to split the tablets, they feel secure in the knowledge they are taking name brand Proscar made by Merck instead of some unknown generic. |
