5-ARIs May Raise Risk Of High-Grade Prostate Cancer

FDA: 5-ARIs May Raise Risk Of High-Grade Prostate Cancer. The AP (6/10) reports that the Food and Drug Administration issued a safety alert indicating that a group of "drugs that can reduce the risk of some forms of prostate cancer may increase the risk of a more serious form of the disease. The FDA says it is updating the warning information on a group of drugs including GlaxoSmithKline PLC's Avodart (dutasteride) and Merck & Co.'s Proscar (finasteride), which are used to shrink the prostate and which are linked to a greater risk of high-grade prostate cancers."         The Washington Post (6/9, Stein) "The Checkup" blog reported, "The alert is based on the agency's review of two large studies, which showed that the drugs reduced the overall risk of getting prostate cancer but increased the chances of developing high-grade tumors."         The Los Angeles Times (6/9, Maugh) "Booster Shots" blog reported that the family of drugs are "called 5-alpha reductase inhibitors, or 5-ARIs, and includes finasteride (Proscar) and dutasteride (Avodart), as well as the" hair-loss treatment Propecia. The drugs are also increasingly "used as a preventive agent for men who are at high risk of developing prostate cancer, but they are not approved for that purpose." The medications "interfere with the production of male hormones, starving the tumors of nutrients they need to grow. For use in treating prostate cancer, the FDA said, the benefits of the drugs far outweigh the risks."         Also covering the story are Reuters (6/10, Yukhananov), HealthDay (6/9, Reinberg), Medscape (6/9, Nelson), WebMD (6/9, DeNoon) and MedPage Today (6/9, Walker).