bold move by propecia victim

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*** BREAKING NEWS - MAY 16, 2012 ***

PROPECIA VICTIM LAUNCHES HUNGER STRIKE AT MERCK USA HEADQUARTERS

Protester Suffering Erectile Dysfunction, Career Loss, Breakup with Fiancee,

Requests Other Propecia Victims to Join Him In Protest.

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J., May 16, 2012

A 30-year-old Las Vegas man whose life was devastated by Propecia has launched a

hunger

strike at Merck & Co.'s corporate headquarters, in protest of the pharmaceutical

giant's failure

to acknowledge the hair-loss drug's role in causing a battery of persistent side

effects, including sexual dysfunction.

Malley, a former public-health researcher from Las Vegas, who flew to New

Jersey from

his hometown on May 10, ceased eating on May 13 at 3 p.m., and plans to continue

going

without food indefinitely while camped across from One Merck Drive.

" I want Merck to see how their drug is destroying lives—and know that I'm just

one of thousands

of victims suffering across the globe, " said Malley, who was prescribed Propecia

last year by

his doctor, and took the controversial medication for five months until

suffering complete erectile

dysfunction and loss of libido last winter.

" Even now, eight months after quitting Propecia, my sexual dysfunction has not

resolved itself, "

added Malley. " I also suffered severe memory loss and disorientation, which made

it nearly

impossible to concentrate on my work. "

As a result of his physical and psychological ailments, Malley resigned from his

research

position late last year. He has since taken a job as a waiter at a Las Vegas

restaurant to make

ends meet.

Meanwhile, he and his fiancee broke off their engagement when she learned that

his sexual

side effects appear to be permanent. And while trying to come to grips with his

condition, Malley

came across Propeciahelp.com, a support group for men suffering from persistent

finasteride

side effects. There, he encountered many other men suffering similar fates long

after quitting

the drug.

Malley has reported his case to the Food and Drug Administration via its

MedWatch program.

And in January he called Merck's Adverse Reporting hotline (), but

the company,

which enjoys annual Propecia sales of more than $440 million, told him, " We

don't have any

answers for you right now, " he said.

Known clinically as " Post-Finasteride Syndrome " (and so called for Propecia's

generic name,

finasteride), the condition is marked by sexual, neurological, hormonal and

physical side

effects—including impotence, Peyronie's disease, testosterone deficiency and

depression—that

do not resolve themselves after quitting Propecia, and may be irreversible.

On April 11, the Food and Drug Administration ordered Merck to revise the

labeling on Propecia

to reflect mounting evidence that the medication can cause continued sexual

dysfunction long

after patients have stopped taking it. Of the 421 Propecia-related sexual

dysfunction cases

the FDA reviewed in its probe, 14 percent lasted longer than three months after

patients

discontinued the drug.

On April 20, according to a report in The Examiner, the FDA began widening its

probe into

Propecia, stating that the agency " will continue to vigilantly evaluate and

analyze all reports that

are available on finasteride and take regulatory actions as warranted. "

The FDA has also been actively encouraging victims to submit reports about " all

adverse

reactions potentially caused by finasteride [including] cases of patients who

developed

Peyronie's [disease], anxiety, panic attacks, cognitive dysfunction, chronic

insomnia, muscle

wasting and other persistent side effects. "

# # #

MEDIA & GENERAL CONTACT:

Malley