what happened to avodart

There are people around that are using Avodart, it's just that a majority of people really don't even find out about the possiblity of using Avodart as a treatment until they hang around these forums for a while. Hairlosstalk.com has an easy to navagate forum, just use the search function under topic titles and search for Avodart and there should be a couple of people with their stories about using the drug.

Medications have side effects, for that matter all medications have some possible side effect no matter how small and you are misinformed to think otherwise. Medicine is a balancing act when concerning medications, while smaller problems might arise from taking a certain medication (side effects) the larger problem at hand will most likely be solved. When concerning problems that are life threatening, or in the case of hair loss appearance altering, the individual patient needs to decide what is best for them.

The FDA's job is not to create this magical world where there are no side effects to medications, that most likely will never happen anyways so don't count on it anytime soon. The FDA's job is to make sure the drugs you buy will work and are safe to use. Keep in mind not everyone reacts the same to medications and treatments, so what might work for one person perfectly might work in a negative way for another person. The FDA does its best to ensure that all documented side effects from the trials are listed so the patients using the drugs are aware of what risks can occur from taking a certain drug. Again, it is impossible to test a specific drug on everyone on earth, this is why studies must be done on a smaller groups of people called a controlled study. These studies for FDA approval are typically done on hundreds or thousands of people depending on the type of product and the results are then studied to see whether or not the product is safe and if it is effective.

Keep in mind there are around 7 billion people on this planet, so there is bound to be people who react differently to the treatment than the few hundred or thousands that used the medication during trials. Short of making everyone on the planet participate in the trials there is no way to avoid other side effects popping up in some patients, it's just the way things have to be in order to make rapid advancements in medicines. In order to make these controlled studies more accurate more people would have to be tested for a longer period of time, this would greatly slow down all medical advancements and end up costing more lives in the long run than the few who regrettably died from FDA errors.

The FDA isn't perfect, and as long as there are humans involved there is bound to be errors and corruption, so don't hold your breath waiting for a perfect organization to show up. The fact is that the FDA does a great job at weeding out ineffective treatments and making sure the ones that are approved will work as directed.

If you fear the FDA and think they are worthless that's cool, you are entitled to your beliefs. I hope that you never get any kind of illness because either your beliefs or your health are going to have to take a backseat to the other and I hope that some people aren't so stubborn to put the latter second.

I agree....

It is not FDA who is the idiot, but the people who sell us scam products... I think Merck is good, but I don't belive all they claim to say about Propecia and the side effects...

What are Avodart's benefits/risks? I was previously on Proscar (a more potent version of Propecia) for 4 years and found it was not effective in stopping my hair loss. In contrast, I have been on Avodart since its launch over 3 years ago and found that it is much more effective in stopping hair loss. However, while Proscar had no discernible side effects, Avodart definitely has an effect on sexual performance; in particular, my ejaculatory volume is about 50% less than what I had while on Proscar. I'm willing to accept that risk, but I'm sure that the management at GSK felt that this benefit/risk ratio was likely to cause problems for them in addition to the poor market performance of Propecia.

RonLev Philly