BPH drug doesn't increase risk of death, but does save men from prostate cancer

A long-term follow-up to a groundbreaking study led by the director of the Cancer Therapy & Research Center confirms that finasteride, a drug shown to reduce risk of prostate cancer by more than a third has no impact on lifespan but further reduces the risk of prostate cancer.

Reducing the risk of prostate tumors by about 30% - and low-grade tumors by 43% - means thousands of men can avoid a cancer diagnosis and subsequent treatments that significantly affect quality of life, said Ian Thompson Jr, director of the CTRC at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

"If you look at the number of prostate cancers that are diagnosed annually and multiply that by 30%, that's the number of cancers we might be able to prevent each year," Dr Thompson said, adding: "That's more than 71,000 men. That's more than 175 jumbo jets full of men who won't get cancer, who won't face treatments with side effects like sexual dysfunction. There's nothing like disease prevention. Nothing comes close."