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 Dr. Lee is the founder and owner of Regrowth LLC, a company based in Los Angeles and dedicated to the treatment of hair loss. He has been developing innovative products and treating hair loss sufferers for the past 16 years. Dr. Lee is the creator of the Xandrox line of hair loss treatments.
Important Note: Due a busy schedule, Dr. Lee cannot answer any new questions at this time; however, he will be providing high quality answers to questions he receives from his own practice exclusively to Morphollica.com regularly
[not named]
2004-01-17
About Fincar and Finpecia
Is Fincar really the same as Proscar and is Finpecia really the same as Propecia?
There’s no reason to assume otherwise. Fincar (2) and Finpecia (1) are products of the very large conglomerate, Cipla (www.cipla.com), based in India. Whereas India has some of the most stringent patent laws of any country in the world and has agreed to recognize international patents, the laws in any country are only as good as the enforcement.
Last week (January 2004), during a meeting with my patent attorney, I asked him about the legitimacy of Fincar and Finpecia. In turn, he called in a colleague, who is a lawyer born and raised in India and specializing in international law. He confirmed that the federal laws in India did indeed have stringent patent agreements. However, he also acknowledged that huge, powerful conglomerates, such as Cipla, frequently ignore the regulations, because they have no fear of reprisals from the government.
So, although Merck & Co., Inc. has the FDA patent rights to Proscar and Propecia and those patents don’t expire until 19 June 06(3), Fincar (5mg finasteride tablet) and Finpecia (1mg finasteride tablet) are being manufactured by Cipla in India.
As a matter of professional ethics, I do not write prescriptions for Fincar or Finpecia. On the other hand, I do not discourage patients from using Finpecia or taking quartered tablets of Fincar as a less expensive source of finasteride for the treatment of MPB.
(1) http://www.cipla.com/ourproducts/Dermatological%20products/finpecia.htm
(2) http://www.cipla.com/ourproducts/urological/fincar.htm
(3)http://www.fda.gov/cder/ob/default.htm
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