Asda sparks price war on hair loss drug used by Trump
- It is offering a month’s supply of 1mg tablets for £28 – the equivalent of £1 a day
- Boots currently charges £49 for 28 of the tablets, which are taken once a day
- Asda said the drug, available without prescription, will be subject to eligibility
Stephen Matthews For Mailonline
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Asda has sparked a price war after becoming the first British supermarket to sell a controversial hair loss drug.
The popular retailer has slashed the price charged by high street chemists for finasteride by as much as 43 per cent.
It is offering a month’s supply of the 1mg tablets, which have been used by US President Donald Trump, for £28 – the equivalent of £1 a day.
Leading chemists chain Boots currently charges £49 for 28 tablets, which are taken once a day. Lloyds Pharmacy charges £45, while Superdrug sells it for £37.
Asda has slashed the price charged by high-street chemists for finasteride, used by US President Donald Trump, by as much as 43 per cent
It is offering a month’s supply of the 1mg tablets for £28 – the equivalent of £1 a day
Asda said the treatment, available without prescription, will be subject to eligibility and a consultation with an accredited pharmacist.
A spokesperson for the supermarket, who will offer the drug at its 255 pharmacies, said: ‘Hair loss is an extremely sensitive matter.
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‘However our new service enables male shoppers to have a private consultation and purchase the tablets without taking time out to visit their GP.’
Asda added all its pharmacies have private rooms available where customers can talk to the pharmacist confidentially.
Used by Trump and Rooney
In February, Donald Trump’s doctor Harold Bornstein revealed he takes a small dose of finasteride to stimulate hair growth.
THE MORNING-AFTER-PILL PRICE WAR
Asda’s announcement comes just days after Boots apologised for refusing to cut the price of its morning-after-pill.
The high-street chemist faced furor from Labour MPs who demanded it follow Tesco and Superdrug by halving the price of the contraceptive.
Boots said it wouldn’t slash the price of the pill because it would encourage ‘inappropriate use’.
Following campaigns for women to boycott the store, it later said it was ‘truly sorry’ for its initial stance.
Thousands argued that the store’s principles were ‘outdated, puritanical and sexist’ for wanting to keep the price as it was.
Boots has now said it is looking for cheaper alternatives, amid claims that British women are forced to pay up to five times more than those in Europe for the morning-after-pill.
Superdrug sparked the price war, by announcing it can be bought for just £13.49 at the end of June.
Dr Bornstein told the New York Times that he, too, takes the drug, saying it helped him keep his shoulder-length locks.
Footballer Wayne Rooney reportedly took the medication to counter his receding hairline. He has since had a hair transplant.
What is finasteride?
Finasteride was originally developed to treat urinary problems in men, but during trials scientists found an unexpected side effect – hair growth.
In 1997, the FDA approved the steroid inhibitor as the first ever drug to treat male pattern baldness.
Taken once a day, the drug is mainly sold under the brand name Propecia. Millions of American adults use the pills, which are proven to be 90 per cent effective.
It is unsure how many men in the UK use it as it is a prescription-only treatment that isn’t available on the NHS.
But Asda are able to sell the drug without prescription as it will be available through a pharmacist-led patient group direction. This means patients have to be seen by a pharmacist before being given the drug.
Among the reported side effects seen in taking the drug, which can often take months to work, is a loss of libido and small risk of erectile problems.
Scrutiny over the drug
The drug has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years by regulators in the United States and Canada because of a possible link to mental health issues.
And research of men over the age of 66 published in March provided the first concrete evidence of its risks to depression and self-harm.
Western University scientists found men using the drug, known as an 5ARIs, had an 88 per cent higher risk of harming themselves. Their risk of depression was 94 per cent higher.
The drug works by reducing the level of a hormone called dihydrotestosterone which can damage hair follicles. This is also how it makes prostate glands smaller.
Superdrug’s spokesperson said that it continually monitors the market ‘to ensure we are offering our customers the best possible value’.
A Boots spokesperson said: ‘This is a medicine that people take over the long term, so our pricing supports our patients to do so and so it is the price over the long term that is most relevant to the patient.’
Lloyds Pharmacy has been approached for comment.
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