Proscar, benign prostatic hyperplasia

Byrnes CA, Morton AS, Liss CL, Lippert MC, Gillenwater JY. Efficacy, tolerability, and effect on health-related quality of life of finasteride versus placebo in men with symptomatic benign prostatic hyperplasia a community based study. CUSP Investigators. Community based study of Proscar. Clin Ther 1995 17 956-69. 

Roehrborn CG, McConnell J, Bonilla J, et al. Serum prostate specific antigen is a strong predictor of future prostate growth in men with benign prostatic hyperplasia—Proscar long term efficacy and safety study. J Urol 2000 163 13-20. 

Observations that hermaphroditic children who ultimately turned male were genetically deficient in 5a-reductase led to the idea that competitive inhibitors of this enzyme would greatly decrease levels of dihydrotestosterone. This might in turn reduce the oversize gland in the common affliction of elderly men called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and avoid the usual therapy—surgery. The synthetic 4-azasteroid finasteride (Proscar) was introduced (1992) to treat BPH in a defined patient population. 

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