Alcohol appears nowhere in the FDA prescribing information for Avodart: not in the contraindications, not in the warnings, and not in the drug-interactions section. The same is true of the MedlinePlus consumer monograph for dutasteride. No interaction between the two is documented in either source. What can be said is narrower: dutasteride is cleared by hepatic CYP3A4 and CYP3A5, and heavy chronic drinking affects liver function generally. Dutasteride is FDA-approved in the United States for bph/">benign prostatic hyperplasia only; use for hair loss is off-label.
Can You Drink Alcohol While Taking Dutasteride?
No documented interaction between alcohol and dutasteride appears in the FDA label. That is not the same as a clearance to drink any particular amount, which is a question for your own prescriber and depends on your liver health and the rest of your medication list. Three points are worth understanding:
- Liver metabolism: The label states dutasteride is metabolized by the CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 isoenzymes, and that it is not metabolized in vitro by CYP2E1, one of the enzymes involved in alcohol metabolism. On hepatic impairment the label is explicit that the effect on dutasteride pharmacokinetics “has not been studied” and that, because dutasteride is extensively metabolized, exposure could be higher in hepatically impaired patients.
- Sexual side effects: Impotence, decreased libido and ejaculation disorders are the adverse reactions most often reported on dutasteride, at 4.7%, 3.0% and 1.4% respectively during months 0-6 of the pooled BPH trials. The label makes no statement about alcohol adding to them.
- Talk to your prescriber: The absence of a documented interaction is an absence of evidence, not a guarantee. Anyone with liver disease, or on other CYP3A4-metabolised drugs, should raise alcohol intake with the clinician who prescribed the dutasteride.
All drug interactions · Side effects
Sources
- FDA. Avodart (dutasteride) prescribing information, Drug Interactions and Clinical Pharmacology. accessdata.fda.gov
- MedlinePlus. Dutasteride. medlineplus.gov