For the first time, leading prostate cancer specialists say they have a drug that can significantly cut men’s risk of developing the disease, dropping the incidence by 30 per cent.

But the discovery, arising from a new analysis of a large federal study, comes with a debate: Should men take the drug?

Prostate cancer is unlike any other because it is relatively slow-growing and while it can kill, it often is not lethal. In fact, most leading specialists say, a major problem is that men are getting screened, discovering they have cancers that may or may not be dangerous, and opting for treatments that can leave them impotent or incontinent.

So should healthy men take a drug for the rest of their lives to avoid getting and being treated for a cancer that, in most instances, it would be better to leave undiscovered and untreated?

Some prostate cancer experts say the answer is yes. Any man worried enough about prostate cancer to be screened might consider it, they say.

The drug, finasteride, is available as a generic for about $2.00 a day, and millions of men safely take it now to shrink their prostates, its approved use.

With finasteride, as many as 100,000 cases of prostate cancer a year could be prevented, said Dr Eric Klein, director of the Center for Urologic Oncology at the Cleveland Clinic.

Dr Howard Parnes, chief of the prostate cancer group at the National Cancer Institute’s division of cancer prevention, also is convinced. “There is a tremendous public health benefit for the use of this agent,” he said.

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