I just heard an ad on the radio for a prescription pill (don’t recall the name) to treat men with advanced prostate cancer. One of the warnings was that it may cause harm to an unborn child. How could that work?
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Thalidomide can cause birth defects when taken by men for cancer treatment because it can be transmitted in semen.
The warning can also be there for off-label use. Lots of medications are used that way.
Thalidomide was originally intended to be a sedative (which it apparently didn’t do) but was found to be an effective anti-nausea drug and doctors gave it to pregnant women with severe morning sickness. It had never been tested on pregnant women. That caused a rash of severe physical deformities in babies born to those mothers and it was taken off the market in the early 60s. FWIW, the FDA never approved the drug as it never passed trials. It was approved in other countries though.
Came back into use as a treatment for leprosy, and the FDA approved it for that use, and then it was found to be effective for treating cancer.
Quite a journey for that one.
I know a couple whose child had birth defects because the dad was on some acne medication when they conceived. It can affect the sperm.
I suppose the good thing is, men with prostate cancer won’t be getting pregnant anytime soon.
Finestride works by interfering with the body’s ability to recognize and react to Androgens.
Androgens are responsible for creating (most of) the sex differences between men and women. When a person with XY chromosomes has congenital androgen insensitivity (a condition called AIS), they are born female (but may be infertile) despite having male chromosomes.
A few decades ago, pharmaceutical researchers investigated a phenomenon among a group of people in the Dominican Republic called [the guevedoces](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCevedoce) who are born with female physiology and then at around the age of 12, spontaneously grow male genitalia and develop as fairly normal young men.
The chemical responsible was isolated and turned into the drug Finestride. It is used to retard androgenic conditions such as enlarging prostates and male pattern baldness.
Because of the potential to influence development, it is generally indicated to avoid use if a person can become pregnant. It’s also been shown to efficiently absorb through the skin.
In fact there is a new topical hair spray foam that includes finestride for topical application in baldness. But it works by absorbing into the bloodstream generally.
There is basically no direct evidence a pregnant woman can absorb enough to harm a fetus. The directions fall under the “Better safe than sorry” principle.
Maybe they said not to take it if you’re a pregnant trans men.
In any case, you shouldn’t take drugs to treat cancer if you don’t have it, and trans men definitely don’t have it since trans men don’t have a prostate.
I suppose the good thing is, men with prostate cancer won’t be getting pregnant anytime soon.
Finestride works by interfering with the body’s ability to recognize and react to Androgens.
Androgens are responsible for creating (most of) the sex differences between men and women. When a person with XY chromosomes has congenital androgen insensitivity (a condition called AIS), they are born female (but may be infertile) despite having male chromosomes.
A few decades ago, pharmaceutical researchers investigated a phenomenon among a group of people in the Dominican Republic called [the guevedoces](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%BCevedoce) who are born with female physiology and then at around the age of 12, spontaneously grow male genitalia and develop as fairly normal young men.
The chemical responsible was isolated and turned into the drug Finestride. It is used to retard androgenic conditions such as enlarging prostates and male pattern baldness.
Because of the potential to influence development, it is generally indicated to avoid use if a person can become pregnant. It’s also been shown to efficiently absorb through the skin.
In fact there is a new topical hair spray foam that includes finestride for topical application in baldness. But it works by absorbing into the bloodstream generally.
There is basically no direct evidence a pregnant woman can absorb enough to harm a fetus. The directions fall under the “Better safe than sorry” principle.
Maybe they said not to take it if you’re a pregnant trans men.
In any case, you shouldn’t take drugs to treat cancer if you don’t have it, and trans men definitely don’t have it since trans men don’t have a prostate.
So drugs that are “hazardous” are classified under NIOSH in the US, the medical version of OSHA. There’s a number of categories, like antineoplastic drugs (cancer medications), immunosuppresants, and teratogenic medications (androgens and other random things, like thalidomide and finasteride).
Cancer drugs are presumed to be teratogenic by default. Even if there is not direct evidence to point to in order to show “[Cancer drug] causes birth defects”, you can operate under the assumption that the risk is present and significant.
Oral chemo can be taken at home and outside of a hospital, so there is a chance that a man who is taking that medication may come into contact with a woman (wife, girlfriend, family member, etc.) of childbearing age in their household who may accidentally come into contact with that medication and possibly even ingest it. That might sound a bit silly at face value, but they could mistake the cancer pill for something else, like an over-the-counter antihistamine, and unknowingly take the wrong medication. It is a *very* small risk, but it is not zero.
It’s a warning issued out of an abundance of caution. If one line in an ad spares them a lawsuit for a baby with birth defects, then that’s a small price to pay on the behalf of the pharmaceutical company.
So drugs that are “hazardous” are classified under NIOSH in the US, the medical version of OSHA. There’s a number of categories, like antineoplastic drugs (cancer medications), immunosuppresants, and teratogenic medications (androgens and other random things, like thalidomide and finasteride).
Cancer drugs are presumed to be teratogenic by default. Even if there is not direct evidence to point to in order to show “[Cancer drug] causes birth defects”, you can operate under the assumption that the risk is present and significant.
Oral chemo can be taken at home and outside of a hospital, so there is a chance that a man who is taking that medication may come into contact with a woman (wife, girlfriend, family member, etc.) of childbearing age in their household who may accidentally come into contact with that medication and possibly even ingest it. That might sound a bit silly at face value, but they could mistake the cancer pill for something else, like an over-the-counter antihistamine, and unknowingly take the wrong medication. It is a *very* small risk, but it is not zero.
It’s a warning issued out of an abundance of caution. If one line in an ad spares them a lawsuit for a baby with birth defects, then that’s a small price to pay on the behalf of the pharmaceutical company.
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