Prostate drug now being recommended for cancer prevention — if you can afford it
Doctors are now advising healthy men over 55 who are regularly screened for prostate cancer to consider taking the drug finasteride (sold in generic form and as Proscar) to prevent their likelihood of getting the disease. About 186,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year.
Finasteride is already prescribed for urinary problems from enlarged prostates, but is only now being prescribed as a cancer preventive.
The good news is that in men who are regularly screened with PSA blood tests, the drug can reduce the odds of getting the cancer by 25 percent.
The bad news is cost. Finasteride costs $2 to $3 per pill based on current U.S. retail prices — which amounts to about $90 per month in costs. What’s more, many insurers currently do not cover the drug for cancer prevention.
Fortunately for ePharmacies.com members, finasteride/Proscar is available for as little as $0.80 per pill from licensed online pharmacy in our network. That’s about $24 per month — a lot less than U.S. retailers charge.
Finasteride works by shrinking the prostate and levels of testosterone, a hormone that spurs cancer growth. This can lead to sexual side effects — specifically, a reduction in the man’s sexual desire. In a lower dosage, finasteride is sold as the hair-loss drug Propecia.
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