R E C O M M E N D E D  R E A D I N G

Germany's Frankfurt General News on PFS

April 4, 2017

Dear Friends:   

Fresh on the heels of an excellent PFS awareness report in Die Welt comes another of equal import from the same nation.

Yesterday, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (translation: Frankfurt General Newspaper), the second-largest paper in Germany, with a daily circulation of 256,000, published a story headlined Is Balding Your Destiny?  

Written by Andreas Frey, the 1,200-word feature cites statistics from Germany’s equivalent of the US Food and Drug Administration.  

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung-04-03-17

“Concerns about cognitive dysfunction and depression [stemming from finasteride use] are on the rise in Germany,” he says.

“The Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices, which is responsible for licensing the drug, has confirmed dozens of suspected cases to this newspaper, including 17 cases of depression, 28 cases of sexual disorders and 170 cases of other adverse reactions.”  

Frey also cites German medical journal Der Arzneimittelbrief (The Drug Letter), which in 2013 published a paper titled Infertility due to finasteride in Propecia for menopausal prophylaxis that concluded:

“We generally advise against this cosmetic therapy, which has a significant potential for endocrinological side effects. Propecia should not have been authorized and its approval should be revoked as soon as possible.”  

Andreas Finner, a dermatologist based in Berlin and a member of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, is cited as well, telling the paper: “As long as we still have minoxidil, we should not prescribe finasteride without considering its consequences.”  

To help ease the many burdens of PFS, the foundation last year launched a Patient Support Program that connects patients with fellow patients and their family members worldwide. As part of that program, we are able to connect family members of PFS patients who have taken their own lives with other family members dealing with the same tragedy.
 
Anyone interested in participating in these efforts, should download our Patient Support PDF or Suicide Support PDF, and email it back to [email protected].
 
We’ve also been steadily building our list of doctors who see PFS patients and have volunteered to help counsel them on remaining stable. At present, there are more than 40 such medical professionals on that list, which can be found in the Patient Support section of our Resources page.
 
Meanwhile, we’d like to remind all PFS patients and/or their loved ones who have not yet done so to report their symptoms to the FDA’s MedWatch program as directed here. Those living outside the United States should also access the WHO’s Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring list of pharmacovigilance agencies and report to their respective health agency.
 
Please take a moment to read the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung story soon. The original can be accessed by clicking here, and the English translation by clicking here.

And as always, feel free to share these links with your health-care professionals, particularly those who may have doubted your persistent side effects in the past, as well as with friends and family.

Thank you.
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