Hello William

My question is regarding a drug which should be the same as Proscar/Propecia (It has the same ATC-Code and the same level of finasterid, 5mg). It comes from the apparently wellknown company Actavis: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/71641.php

Now if it is possible to use a fifth proscar instead of a propecia pill, it should be okay to use one/fifth Actavis instead right? The reason I ask is because the price here in Denmark for Actavis is ten times lower than Proscar. There are also many other companies which produces products that are similar but alot cheaper than Proscar.

I am 25, male and I have Norwood 2 with a beginning vertex. Thanks for your help and keep up the good work (I have learned alot from your site).

Kind regards

Yes, 1/5th of a Actavis brand 5mg finasteride pill should be the same as 1/5th of a Proscar pill. There are many makers of generic medications, and it does vary by country. As long as you can be sure the medication is what it claims to be, it should be the same regardless of the maker. I say “should”, but I have no way to tell if it is that case for every pharmaceutical company. From Wikipedia, other makers of generic finasteride include:

• Ajanta Pharma (trade name Appecia)
• Aleppo Pharmaceutical (trade name Prosteride)
• Cipla (trade names Fincar and Finpecia)
• Dr. Reddy’s (trade names Finax and Finast)
• Intas Pharmaceuticals (trade name Finalo)
• Ranbaxy (trade name Finara)

Interestingly, a few months back Actavis recalled every generic drug they manufactured in their New Jersey plant, thanks to an FDA inspection that showed the standards were not kept up. Read more about that at the FDA site. Finasteride was not one of the drugs listed, as it was apparently not made at that facility. Just food for thought, though…

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