Avodart is the brand name for the latest BPH drug that also showed results in treating hair loss (in men only) in Clinical Trials. The only other drug that has performed quite as well under the scrutiny of clinical trials has been Propecia, so all attention is on Avodart as it debuts in the Pharmacies of the United States this month.

For our previous articles on Dutasteride, please go here: Article 1, Article 2, Article 3

Where do I get it?

If you can get your hands on a prescription for it, you can acquire it via pharmacies like RiteAid and Longs Drugs without much hassle. Here in Southern California, RiteAid is offering the medication for $91 per 30 capsules at 0.5mg each. Longs Drugs is offering it at $95.49 for the same quantity. Some resourceful consumers have found online sources like Drugstore.com which are offering the drug for only $74.77 for 30 capsules and $211.99 for 90 capsules. Availability is no longer an issue, however the issues centered around acquiring it are not quite resolved. You still need a prescription, and getting your hands on one may prove to be anywhere from simple to daunting. Despite Drugstore.com's cheap price, they and most other online sources are requiring a faxed or mailed in prescription from a physician. Considering this drug still is not approved for the treatment of hair loss, it may be difficult finding a physician willing to prescribe it.

How much should I take?

Then there is the question of side effects. How much can you take without the risk of side effects? Avodart is being sold in capsules at 0.5mg. Unfortunately, this is the approved dose for BPH sufferers from the ages of 60 to 90 years old, not the finalized dose resulting from trials done on younger men using it to treat their hair loss. In the Phase II hair loss trials, Glaxo the doses tested were 0.1, 0.5, and 2.5mg daily, but since Phase III trials have yet to begin, the significance of the data collected in previous trials has not been defined.

As a result, many consumers have been debating exactly which dose they should take, and making assumptions that up to 2.5mg daily may be sufficient to obtain the amazing results seen in the trial photos.

Dosing at 2.5mg daily would mean taking five 0.5mg capsules daily, which would run you about $100 a week for this treatment.

We spoke to a couple compounding pharmacies, thinking that they might consider custom compounding a 2.5mg dose for single daily use. The general concensus was that it might be possible to do, but the cost would actually be higher due to the compounding fee's associated, so it didn't seem realistic.

Any number of reasons could be given for this modified dosing schedule. Some feel that Glaxo saw the best results in the Phase II trials at 2.5mg, but felt a lower dose might maintain the results with fewer side effects after 6 months. Some simply feel that including 2.5 as one of the main doses in the final trials demonstrates Glaxo's comfort with a higher dose, dispelling the concerns related to side effects many people have. Others feel that this shows there is something unique about the drug in that its dose can be reduced over time without losing effectiveness... and still others think that this not only verifies the safety of 2.5, it implies that without that first "kick", 0.5 daily may not be sufficient, or would make results take much longer to appear.

A Key statement from the Phase II trials was:

"significant suppression of both serum and scalp DHT was observed with 0.5mg (90% and 50-60% respectively) and 2.5mg (95% and 82% respectively) dutasteride. No drug related serious adverse events were observed in the study, nor were there differences in the incidence of adverse events of special interest relative to placebo at the 0.5mg dose."

They didn't mention what side effects, if any, there were at the 2.5mg dose. Quite likely then 0.5mg is enough to do the job better than finasteride - which depletes serum DHT by around 70%. We recommend that the consumer errs on the side of caution and sticks with 0.5mg from the start. It's probably going to be enough for most men and given the cost of taking 5x the amount, the return is small.

Whatever the case may be, the absence of the final clinical data forbids us from coming to any solid conclusions on the issue. As a result, the question remains: How much should you take? There is no data to answer that question yet, but it is important that the consumer is aware of the potential health risks of taking a drug that does not currently have a published safety, dose, and effectiveness profile for younger hair loss sufferers. Since this drug must be prescribed and used for "off label" purposes, legal recourse in the case of adverse events would not be easy, and in fact may be impossible. On a positive note, many of our users are storming forward with Avodart anyway, and it will be beneficial for the rest of us to see how they respond to it.

Avodart Trial Data & Fact Sheet