Drug Safety Update

Finasteride and Dutasteride – updated safety warnings for psychiatric side effects and sexual dysfunction

Issued 11 May 2026

Read and act on the official notice on GOV.UK

The MHRA's summary

The MHRA has reviewed the evidence for finasteride and dutasteride and the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours and has recommended further measures to minimise this risk.

MHRA's audience tags: Dermatology, Dispensing GP practices, Emergency medicine, General practice, Pharmacy, Psychiatry, Renal medicine, Urology nephrology

Pharmshark is not an official alerting route. Make sure your pharmacy receives alerts directly from the MHRA and through your organisation, and always act on the official GOV.UK notice.

Source: the MHRA on GOV.UK. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Pharmshark is not affiliated with or endorsed by the MHRA.