Dutasteride is a combined type I and type II 5α-reductase inhibitor. A dose of 0.5 mg/day leads to a greater reduction in serum and scalp DHT levels than does finasteride at 5 mg/day. Compared with finasteride, dutasteride is three times more potent of an inhibitor of 5-alpha-reductase type 2 and 100 times more potent of an inhibitor of 5-alpha-reductase type 1 These suggests that dutasteride may be a more effective therapy. Dutasteride is not approved by FDA but ıt has been demonstrated to be effective in several randomized, double-blind, placebo controlled trials in androgenetic alopecia so It is prescribed by some clinicians as an off-label treatment for androgenetic alopecia.
Dutaseride has comparable side effects (sexual dysfunction, decreased libido…) as finasteride.
Like finasteride, dutasteride is now becoming popular treatment option in AGA, due to its good response shown by various randomized control studies and meta-analysis. Also, in most of these studies, dutasteride was found to be better than finasteride with comparable adverse effects. Therefore, dutasteride could become a treatment of choice for AGA in near future.