(by Nicola Simonetti) It is disputed the use for this purpose above all in consideration of both the side effects (brain neoplasia) on the psyche and the irreversibility of the consequences on sex.
From France comes the signaling that one of these products based on cyproterone acetate exposes to the risk of brain tumor.
Usually, this product is prescribed, in women, to oppose excessive hirsutism or hairiness, endometriosis, the tendency of alopecia (hair loss), to treat oily skin and acne.
In humans, it is used in some forms of prostate cancer and, in transgenics, to reduce the amount of male hormones.
The dose of 100 milligrams is used in the treatment of sexual aggressors in order to avoid the repetition of crime and serial crime behavior (chemical castration).
The drug was suspected of multiplying the risk of brain cancer by twenty times in subjects who have practiced therapy using high doses of the medicine.
The scientific news has provoked the alarm of the French health authority that, in September (6) last - according to what has been communicated by the "Agence du médicament ANSM" has alerted Europe, asking that modalities and doses in the use of the drug.
The study referred to was carried out by the neurosurgery service of the Lariboisière hospital in Paris in collaboration with the same ANSM (national agency for the safety of drugs and health products) and Health insurance, investigating 250.000 women who , in the 2007-2015 period, they used, according to prescription, the drug to deal with hirsutism or endometriosis.
The researchers compared women who had been given high doses (more than 3 grams for six months and, later, continued therapy) with patients who, instead, received smaller doses (less than 3 grams per 6 months only) of the drug.
"The study - said Dr. Jean-Michel Race (endocrinologist, ANSM) to AFP (Agence France-Presse) - shows that the risk of meningioma (brain tumor, in most cases, of a benign nature) is multiplied for 7 in women who used higher doses than those who, instead, were treated with half doses. Risk multiplied, then, by 20 after 5 years of treatment ".
It is also stated that the risk itself had already been reported, again in France (89.000 women treated in the 2017) since the 2011.
“A new fact that must be taken into consideration above all in evaluating the risk / benefit factor in prescribing therapy”.
The manufacturer of the drug in question specified to APF that "Priorities in our laboratories are: patient safety and good use of the drug".