Dr. Reddy's Generic Finasteride Led to Shedding

[cman7]

I have not posted on any hair loss forums in years, but wanted to come on here and warn you all about the potential dangers of choosing certain generic brands of finasteride over Propecia.

Until about one or two months ago, I had been taking brand-name Propecia regularly for about five or six years. My hair loss had stabilized, and I rarely saw any shedding whatsoever during that time. I also had a hair transplant during that time, and the result was great; basically, things were going very well, and I had forgotten about hair loss issues.

Fast forward to a couple months ago, when my pharmacy refilled my finasteride prescription as usual, but gave me Dr. Reddy's generic brand instead of the Merck brand name Propecia. At the time, I was a little bit concerned, but quickly forgot about it and took the generic Dr. Reddy's brand in the same way that I had been taking Propecia.

In the last couple of weeks, I have noticed so much shedding. It has been very upsetting. This is how my hair used to shed before I started on Propecia. I feel very upset thinking that I have lost all of the progress and hair that I had been holding onto over the last several years while taking Propecia.

You guys can go ahead and dismiss me all you want, but I am telling you the truth of my experience. Maybe different people will respond differently to this generic brand. Some of you may insist that finasteride is finasteride, and it shouldn't make a difference whether it is generic or not. I am here to tell you that, from my own experience, I am 100% convinced that Dr. Reddy's generic brand does not always work as well as brand name Propecia. So, beware: don't let yourself be lulled into feeling reassured that more shedding with a generic brand is not possible.

I just hope that I can regain the hair that I lost in the last couple months. I have already replaced the Dr. Reddy's brand with the Propecia.

Do you guys think there's any chance that my hair that was shed recently could grow back? I really hope so.

Also, I have read posts elsewhere from other people with similar experiences using Dr. Reddy's generic brand, so don't think that I am the only one.

Your hair is worth the extra money each month!!

 

[HairGuru22]

Dr. Reddy's finasteride has been doing wonders for me cosmetically, my hair got remarkably thicker but I am still shedding a lot (like serious strands). I have never used propecia so I cant say that generic is better or vice versa. Perhaps we need to conduct a survey comparing the effectiveness between generic and propecia, that way we can know for sure.

 

[cman7]

Hairguru, I am glad you are getting a benefit from it. It seems like different people respond differently to different medications.

I can't say how anyone else will respond, but I do know that the generic Dr. Reddy's generic hadn't worked as well for me as the Propecia had.

After I noticed a lot of shedding recently, I started reading all kinds of online hair loss forums again to see if anyone else was having similar experiences after switching to Dr Reddy's. I saw three kinds of responses to the concerns/questions about generic vs. Propecia.

1) those who will say, of course, *theoretically* there is no difference between the two, so you shouldn't worry about it. These people may or may not have firsthand experiences using both. They'll say the only difference is price and pill size.

2) those who had switched from brand name to generic and have seen no negative consequences of this switch.

3) those who have switched and HAVE seen increased shedding after switching to Dr. Reddy's. *I am in this group*

I have heard of no one saying they got superior results from generic.

My conclusion: if money isn't a big concern, and if you want to give yourself every chance of success keeping as much of your hair as possible, stick with brand name Propecia. But if money is an issue, you may want to take the chance at going generic.

The choice I made was to give myself every chance for success with the Finasteride treatment. Propecia stopped my shedding years ago and continued to work well, so I am going to stick with what works.

 

[HairGuru22]

Hey man, you are right, you definitely need to stick with what works. The thing is the reason I choose for generic is because I saw some guys having good results with proscar alone. Therefore, I immediately began using proscar in which I cut the pills in 4 parts.However, proscar (dont remember the brand) made my hair even worse than it was before after 3 months. Then I switched to Dr. reddy''s 1mg finasteride because I was fed up with cutting the pills. Then 8 months after using it, I noticed my hair getting back thicker. So there is definitely a difference in response to both generic brands which leads to me to conclude that one should switch if a certain brand is not working.

 

[volagsrule]

Sorry to hear that. I've been on Dr.Reddy for over two months after being on Propecia for over 10 years and thankfully see no difference. In fact my hair seems to be in a phase where it's looking extra good. I have no clue if this is due to the generic, but my hair does in fact look a bit better since switching.

By the way, Merck now produces it's Finasteride for the US overseas. I mentioned this in another post.

If you look on your Propecia bottle (Merck) you'll see it says right on the bottle "Finasteride (Active Ingredient)-Made In UK.

This is on all my Propecia bottles which were purchased in the US at CVS.

I also have another bottle that says "Finasteride (Active Ingredient)-Made In Italy".

I don't know when Merck started doing this but all my bottles of Propecia for the last 2 years or so state right on the bottle that the very thing that makes Propecia what it is (finasteride) is now being manufactured by Merck overseas. So if people are concerned about FDA oversight not being as tight as it should be due to Dr. Reddy manufacturing generic Propecia outiside the US, going to Merck produced Propecia wouldn't really solve this concern as they too are now manufacturing their Finasteride in foreign countries for sale in the US.

 

[Bowser]

Well production in the uk shouldn't be anything to worry about!

- - - Updated - - -

 

[deviltaz]

In 8/2012, had a second hair transplant performed. By 1/2013, it was filling in nicely with new hairs. In 2/2013, I switched to Dr. Reddy, after being on Propecia since 2008, and within less than two weeks, a massive shed began. I quickly switched back to Propecia but 11 weeks later, the shed continues. All of the transplanted hairs fell out and all new hairs, grow to about 1/2 inch, and fall out. My Dr. said it will return once the shed stops, which should last about 12 weeks, but it's been such a struggle 'losing' all the transplanted hairs as they grow.

 

[talmoode]

In 8/2012, had a second hair transplant performed. By 1/2013, it was filling in nicely with new hairs. In 2/2013, I switched to Dr. Reddy, after being on Propecia since 2008, and within less than two weeks, a massive shed began. I quickly switched back to Propecia but 11 weeks later, the shed continues. All of the transplanted hairs fell out and all new hairs, grow to about 1/2 inch, and fall out. My Dr. said it will return once the shed stops, which should last about 12 weeks, but t's been such a struggle 'losing' all the transplanted hairs as they grow.

I am no expert but it is likely that you will lose most of your transplanted hair within first 2 to 3 months and that you will see regrowth after 4-5 months. You need to be patient because it can take up to 12 months to see a real difference!

 

[deviltaz]

Thanks, talmoode

Yes, I lost all the transplanted hair about 5-8 weeks after the transplant. About 3 1/2 months later, the regrowth began and was coming in nicely. It was at that point I switched to a generic (Dr. Reddy) and began experiencing a massive shed. Not only did I 'lose' the regrowth hair that came in, but all new growth that has occurred, for the past 11 weeks, has fallen out as well. My Dr. said that is to be expected as new growth is most susceptible to a telogen phase signal and will grow back.

Just curious if others had experienced this?

 

[talmoode]

hi! to be honest, I don't think using a generic brand for a couple of weeks would make your hair shed more than usual. I mean even if the generic brand you were using were fake, you only took it for like two weeks (not months, right?) and I guess it would take more than two weeks for your hormon to go back to normal!! I have heard people saying that their hair shed after 3 to 4 months of quitting finasteride. I am pretty sure what you are experiencing is your transplanted hair shedding! Don't worry~

 

[Wrathofkala]

So far on Dr Reddy's I have only noticed that the pills are smaller limiting how they can be cut. You can really only cut them in half which sucks for some people looking for .25 mg. Effectiveness seems the same so far to me. Sexually it's the same feeling to me. The chest thou is LESS puffy feeling. I think that's huge. My chest doesn't feel as full and I like this feeling much better. I am staying on Dr Reddy's for awhile....

 

[Lance]

I've been using Propecia since 1999/2000 and my hair loss has more or less stopped (or at the very least slowed down to a super slow crawl). I think I might have actually grown some hair back as well in the form of fine hairs, etc. Anyway around three of four months ago my pharmacist switched me to Dr Reddys generic version. I was thrilled with this news because my Propecia was costing me $88.00 a month so a break in the price was a very welcomed change. I didn't think much more about it after that and continued on with my life.

Well over the past few months my hair has suddenly and noticeably been getting thinner and thinner. Needless to say this has been the cause of confusion and depression for me. Then it dawned on me a few weeks ago that this new rapid hair loss has happened since my change from Propecia to the Dr Reddys generic version (which is just too much of a coincidence for me to ignore). So I called my pharmacist this morning and told him to switch me back. The bad news is that the price for Propecia has now gone up $10.00 (one would think that when other companies start putting out generic versions that the competition would bring the price of the name brand down... however my pharmacist told me that the opposite is actually the case. :dunno: ), so now I'm basically paying $100.00 a month. However if it will keep my hair from falling out then I will do what I must.

For those of you who have been using Dr Reddys and have been achieving positive results... congratulations. However that doesn't appear to be my case. Clearly I'm in the category of people who would suggest that you should stay away from Dr Reddys.

 

[Quantum Cat]

Lance can't you get 5mg Proscar and cut them up? It would work out cheaper

 

[Lance]

Lance can't you get 5mg Proscar and cut them up? It would work out cheaper

I wasn't even aware of that option until today (this is my first day on here). So I'll have to ask my doctor about it at my next visit.

 

[Quantum Cat]

Proscar 5mg or generic Finasteride 5mg is the same drug as Propecia. I and many others just cut each pill into fifths, or quarters and take a segment each day, which evens out at roughly 1mg per day, but it doesn't have to be too precise.

 

[nishrad]

hey can anyone tell me where i can get brand name propecia in india.....dr reddy finax sucks....my hairloss was always gradual but it didnt stop at all with finax.....any suggestions plzz??

 

[talmoode]

hey can anyone tell me where i can get brand name propecia in india.....dr reddy finax sucks....my hairloss was always gradual but it didnt stop at all with finax.....any suggestions plzz??

Any chemists. Just go and ask if they have it in stock (but you do need a prescription for that).

 

[lontano]

Hi, guys. I just joined to add my experience with this generic finasteride from Dr. Reddy's Lab. After a little over three months of use of this stuff, I've had a very pronounced setback, with my hair now far thinner than ever. I've used Propecia since it came out with good results. I thought it might be losing its effectiveness recently but it was hard to tell. Well, the effects of the switch to the generic were not hard to tell. What a big mistake!

I don't like having to take a drug for this and I shudder at all the money I've sent to Merck over the years. But there doesn't seem to be anything better out there, not even a lower-priced alternative (I haven't been able to get a doctor to write a Proscar prescription for me).

Good luck to everyone.

 

[abcdefg]

The price will come down once dr reddy loses their exclusive patent on it and more generic companies come in. Right now its just dr reddy instead of merk same thing with a different name.

 

[Quantum Cat]

The price will come down once dr reddy loses their exclusive patent on it and more generic companies come in. Right now its just dr reddy instead of merk same thing with a different name.

there's also Finpecia 1mg which is manufactured by Cipla.

It's odd that people notice a difference when switching to generic - it should be exactly the same drug and do exactly the same thing