Category Archives: GlaxoSmithKline

Dutasteride 0.5MG, Dutasteride Cost, Generic Avodart, Generic Dutasteride, GlaxoSmithKline

Generic Dutasteride Cost

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After I wrote a post on the cost of generic finasteride last year, I received several requests to write one on the cost of generic dutasteride. However, the reason for my not being able to do that right away was because the patent for Avodart (the original brand name dutasteride that is made by GlaxoSmithKline) only ran out late last year. It took a few more months before generic Avodart became readily available.

Generic Dutasteride (Avodart) varieties and types.
Generic Dutasteride.

Note that dutasteride has only been approved to treat hair loss in South Korea and Japan as of the time of writing this post. In the US and EU, it is approved to treat enlarged prostates, but not yet for hair loss. I am optimistic that this situation will change in the next several years, but no guarantees.

As I have mentioned many times on this blog before, dutasteride (see positive and negative reviews and testimonials) is likely to give substantially superior results in comparison to finasteride when it comes to treating hair loss. But at the same time, likely to cause more frequent side effects.

Do your research carefully before deciding to proceed with such a strong drug and always discuss taking it with your doctor before proceeding.  In rare cases, it seems like the side effects from both finasteride and dutasteride can be permanent.

Note that various online sites now offer coupons for drug purchases if you are buying them with cash and not paying via insurance. Perhaps the most popular one is GoodRx, which has coupons for numerous drugs, including for dutasteride. For those not in the US, feel free to provide your country’s prices and discount options in the comments to this post.

Note: Prices and brands at the same pharmacy chains may vary by US state. Also keep in mind that many stores may price match or have internal savings plans.

Generic Dutasteride Cost Table

Country of manufacture entries in the below table could be off and I have not tried to go through product brochure attachments on company websites for now to try to find out.

Teva Pharmaceuticals is headquartered in Israel, but a pharmacist told me their generic dutasteride was made in the US. The Breckenridge Pharmaceuticals website says it is based in the US, but a Costco employee told me that the packaging on their generic dutasteride says its made in New Zealand.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals website says that 95 percent of its products are made in the US and 5 percent are made in India. GSK is headquartered in the UK, but it seems like the company’s Avodart is made in the US. Please let me know country of manufacture if you purchase any of the below and find errors in my table.

Pharmacy NameAvodart (0.5 mg) — 30 pillsCompany Name (Country of Manufacture)Generic Dutasteride (0.5 mg) — 30 pillsCompany Name (Country of Manufacture)
Costco$190GSK (US)$21Breckenridge
Pharmaceuticals (New Zealand)
CVS (Target now seems to house CVS)$207GSK (US)$172Teva Pharmaceuticals (US/Israel)
Rite Aid$222GSK (US)$173Amneal Pharmaceuticals (US)
Safeway$232GSK (US)$203Amneal Pharmaceuticals (US)
Sam’s Club$190GSK (US)$100Teva Pharmaceuticals (US/Israel)
Walgreens$206GSK (US)$182Amneal Pharmaceuticals (US)
Walmart$195GSK (US)$157Teva Pharmaceuticals (US/Israel)
Avodart, Dutasteride, GlaxoSmithKline

GSK Publishes Japanese Dutasteride Hair Study Results

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I previously wrote about dutasteride possibly being approved by the US FDA to treat hair loss in 2015.  In August 2014, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) published 6-month interim results from a Japanese clinical study of 120 male patients with androgenetic alopecia taking 0.5 mg of dutasteride daily.  You can also download the findings by clicking on the Result Summary tab here and then clicking on the pdf link there.

It should be noted that all patients were Japanese and four patients withdrew from the trial.  Key findings:

  1. 81 percent of patients saw at least some increase in vertex hair count (10 percent saw a great increase, 33 percent saw a moderate increase).
  2. 71 percent of patients saw at least some increase in frontal hair count (8 percent saw a great increase, 32 percent saw a moderate increase).
  3. Only one patient saw a decrease in vertex hair count, and only one patient saw a decrease in frontal hair count.  It is not clear if this was the same patient.  Both saw only a slight decrease.
    (My note: For all intents and purposes, this implies that Dutasteride guarantees at the very least hair loss cessation after 6 months of use).
  4. 11 percent of patients reported erectile dysfunction as a side effect and slightly smaller percentages of patients reported decreased libido, ejaculation disorders and sexual dysfuntion.(My note: Since each patient can report more than one side effect, I am guessing that most of the 11 percent reporting erectile dysfunction also reported the other sexual side effects I listed above.  However, the end of the pdf states that 38 percent of patients had side effects, which I think is an error as they are ignoring multiple side effect reports).

For 6 months, I found the hair loss related results slightly better than expected, but the side effects slightly worse than expected.  I am assuming here that something like 15-20 percent of patients had side effects rather than 38 percent as reported, based on my assumption that multiple side effects on one person were reported individually (i.e., double, triple… counted) for some reason.

If 38 percent of patients really did get side effects, we will not see Dutasteride getting approved to treat hair loss in the US or Japan in my opinion.