Finasteride and dutasteride – updated safety warnings for psychiatric side effects and sexual dysfunction
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
GOV.UK — Drug Safety Update, volume 19, issue 102026-05
Summary (paraphrased)
The UK regulator's May 2026 Drug Safety Update following the EU Article 31 review, building on its April 2024 finasteride review and the patient alert cards introduced in 2024. Its advice for health professionals states plainly that finasteride is associated with depression, suicidal ideation and sexual dysfunction which may persist after treatment is stopped. It updates finasteride 1 mg product information with a warning that sexual dysfunction may contribute to mood disorders (and can occur without them), adds precautionary class-effect wording for dutasteride, and publishes Yellow Card counts: 170 suicidal-ideation reports for finasteride, 19 of them fatal, plus 5 for dutasteride, in data to 31 May 2025.
Why it’s in the corpus
The first UK regulatory statement to use "may persist after treatment is stopped" for finasteride sexual dysfunction, with concrete Yellow Card numbers. Very recent (May 2026) — likely the newest item in the corpus.
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