10-Year Finasteride Study: First to Investigate Long-Term Effects and Safety August 20th, 2012. The 2011 study published by a research team led by Dr. Alfredo Rossi, is the first comprehensive investigation on long-term safety and efficacy of finasteride 1mg (Propecia). Finasteride, sold under the brand names Proscar and Propecia among others, is a medication used mainly to treat an enlarged prostate or hair loss in men. It can also be used to treat excessive hair growth in women and as a part of hormone therapy for transgender women. In the clinical studies with Propecia, the incidences for breast tenderness and enlargement, hypersensitivity reactions, and testicular pain in finasteride-treated patients were not different from those in patients treated with placebo. At the end of the fifth year, 65 percent of men taking Propecia (n=219) maintained or improved their hair count compared to their hair count at the start of the studies, while all of the men on placebo (n=15) lost hair count. In clinical studies with PROPECIA (finasteride, 1mg) in men 1841 years of - age, the mean value of serum prostatespecific antigen (PSA) decreased from 0.7 ng/mL at baseline to 0.5 ng/mL at Month 12. Two studies in 1998 and 1999 showed that the incidence of these side effects with finasteride therapy was generally comparable to that observed with the treatment with placebo,[8,9] and there was no evidence of dose dependency or increased incidence with longer therapy out to 12 months. In addition, the side effects ceased in patients even when they continued to receive finasteride. Propecia Studies and Research. T he promising thing about Propecia hair loss treatment, is there is a ton of data gathered about its efficacy. Propecia has been shown to reduce scalp DHT (the main antagonist of hair loss) levels by up to 60%. Studies in Men The efficacy of PROPECIA was demonstrated in men (88% Caucasian) with mild to moderate androgenetic alopecia (male pattern hair loss) between 18 and 41 years of age. This action has been shown in In vitro studies (outside the body, in the lab) but not in human studies. There is no study that shows a clinically significant drop in DHT after taking saw palmetto, which as you state is responsible for the action associated with hair growth. Two other studies showed that finasteride at 5 times the dosage of PROPECIA (5 mg daily) produced significant median decreases of approximately 0.5 mL (-25%) compared to placebo in ejaculate volume, but this was reversible after discontinuation of treatment.