Reuters (2/3, Terhune, Levine) reports, “Newly unsealed court documents and other records show that Merck & Co and U.S. regulators knew about reports of suicidal behavior in men taking the company’s anti-baldness treatment Propecia [finasteride] when they decided not to warn consumers of those potential risks in a 2011” label update of the medication. In late January, “internal records from Merck were made public…when a federal magistrate in Brooklyn, New York, granted a 2019 Reuters motion to unseal 11 documents filed in years of litigation alleging Propecia caused persistent sexual dysfunction and other harmful side effects.” Following “the 2011 decision on the warning, the FDA has received more than 700 reports of suicide and suicidal thoughts among people taking Propecia or generic versions of the drug.”
Related Links:
— “Exclusive: Merck anti-baldness drug Propecia has long trail of suicide reports, records show ” Dan Levine, Chad Terhune, Reuters, February 3, 2021