Finasteride 5mg blue film coating. Tablets divisible?

Medications for hair loss
1

Hi, I have 5mg generic (‘Cinfa’) Finasteride available in my local pharmacy in Spain, without prescription.

The pills have a blue film. Can these tablets be safely crushed/divided, and if so will it lose effectiveness (when taken orally)?

The composition of the coating is the following:
Macrogol 6000, titanim dioxido (E-171), Hypromellose, Colour Indigo (E-132).

2

You need to ask your doc. Why are you asking us??

3

Because the title of this forum is 'Hair restoration - Medication ';

Because doctors are human beings, which means they are ocassionally incompetent;

Because not all people who consult this forum have a doctor to consult or even live in a country with a healthcare system;

Because a significant number of people share this situation and will be interested to know this information, and some may have had some luck researching it, especially considering the price difference between 1mg and 5mg tablets.

I could go on.

In summary, because the internet, big pharma, and health care are not the same things, and people’s access to them is not universal and invariate.

4

If you want expert opinion online (which hardly exists) but consider docs to be incompetent you shouldnt be taking any meds. You want to save a few bucks from not going to a doc that’s your idiot downfall. Docs studied medicine for a reason.

5

zlaer, for the sake of the brevity, readability, and informativeness of this thread, please stop posting here. If you think I am an idiot or cheapskate becasue I want to research hair restoration medication, I suggest this forum is not for you, but if you must make these kinds of comments, PM them please.

.

6

Seriously? You come to a forum expecting medical advice from users who arent doctors. It was recommended you seek a doc who’s the only one qualified for such advice. Then you dismiss docs by calling them “incompetent.” Now youre mad that such sound advice isnt to your liking.

If you dont see how ridiculously ignorant all of your actions sound dont come here for any advice. If you’d rather sacrifice your health by not seeking a doc just to save a few bucks dont complain later if something awry happens to you.

7

I was prescribed 5g blue coated finasteride by my primary doctor and was advised to split it into quarters. I was advised by my hair transplant doctor to actually take the quarter every other day, which I now have done for over two years. I have not noticed an increase in hair loss - I actually don’t notice even natural shedding at all.

But as you say, doctors can be wrong. I googled the question, and consumers reports specifically lists this drug as one that can be split.

8

That’s interesting. Wouldn’t remember the brand by any chance? Or have the info slip that comes in the box to compare the composition? It could possibly be the same formulation.

It’s interesting that your doctor’s opinion was to divide. I find many doctors default to the opposite rather mechnanically, and when you press for a reason none is forthcoming. Not surprising given the question of liabiilty and the incentivizing coming down from big pharma. So when a doctor says to go the economizing route it suggests to me there’s a reason.

I had a good google before posting but couldn’t find any consumer reports or decent documentation on my formulation. Could you link me to the report you found?

9

As I said, I take Finasteride, which my prescription bottle says is “generic for proscar.”

The reason the doctor went the economizing route was…to save me money. Why does it have to be more complicated than that?

The link is attached to my post. Click on the blue lettering.

Sheesh.

10

I’m not sure what you mean about things being complicated. I’m not saying it has to be more complicated than economizing. Im saying that for various reasons unfortuantely doctors often don’t go that extra step of helping patients economize in my experience.

Thanks for the link, but I dont see anything about my brand (Cinfa, though the chemist said initially the pill is ‘generic’, sorry for the confusion). Finasteride is the drug mentioned there in the link, but it’s a different brand (proscar). I would need something specific for my pill to be sure that the delivery system is effective if taken crushed or divided as I don’t know whether finasteride survives the stomach regardless the formulation. This is why I asked if you remembered the brand of pill you had when your doctor gave you this advice, which I now understand to be generic, or if you have the slip for the pill (with the formulation, as this details the coating and exact contents of the pill). If they are the same I would be confident, given that you say it seems to have worked for you and the advice of your doctor has panned out.

11

I looked around google some more… some contradictions about splitting the pill. One reason it is coated, though, is to protect women who may be pregnant from coming into contact with active ingredients. So, the coating probably has nothing to do with its efficacy when ingested.

12

THanks yeah could simply be that. But I did see in one place, a tablet info sheet I think, that Finasteride is absorbed in the intestine, which means it might need some kind of protection in the stomach. Im wondering if the formulation, as well as the coating potentially (although I agree it doesn’t look like the coating is up to much protection), is designed to do that. On weight of evidence it looks mine too is divisible, but I can’t be sure without something specific about my brand/formulation, or the absorption of Finasteride in general.

13

I have been splitting my 5 mg finasteride pills for almost 10 years, no issue here. This is the first time I heard about potential issues splitting pills.

14

Well said :+1: there s nothing wrong with your posts and thanks for the thread btw, i never even thought that splitting pills would be an issue.

16

Looking at their post history that user appears to be a quasi-troll or sockpuppet of some kind.

Regarding splitting, there are a limited number of formulations/brands out there so it remains surprising to me how hard it is to get information confirming whether each one is divisible or not, especially considering how many people do this already or would do this. The info is patchy, inconclusive and tends to just scratch the surface of what would be of interest to a potential consumer (like so much info on the internet).

Given the information provided by CueballBob it does appear that Finasteride survives the stomach. If I have any luck getting confirmation re. my brand from a user with the same brand/formulation, a reliable doctor, or the pharma company I will confirm here.

17

To anyone interested in this topic, I have received confirmation from the pharaceutical company that makes the pill that they can be divided, and even crushed. Although they did recommend taking not long after they are crushed. For anyone this might apply to, what exactly ‘not long after’ means I could not get confirmation. Nor what exactly happens, if anything,when crushed pills are left exposed to air for a long time (days I mean). At any rate no safety/health concerns exist according to them when crushing.

As splitting a pill only exposes a n inner surface of the pill to air, not all its contents , and as the period is typically short (3 - 5 days), I don’t have any reason to believe a breakdown of the active ingredient would occur, which correlates with the accounts and experience of others who divide and crush their finasteride pills.

So in summary, dividing this particular pill doesn’t seem to be an issue. If one has any doubt, perhaps just keep track of whether the active ingredient is active not by keeping an eye on the expected short term effects of the drug.

18

Thanks for following up. As it happens, I typically divide a new pill into 2 quarters and one half. I take quarters every other day. I divide the half after the first two quarters are consumed.