Saw Palmetto Extract Matches Known Drug

BARCELONAA new study performed by Euromed and published online ahead of print in Advances in Therapy journal found a novel saw palmetto extract (SPE), SPET-085, is as effective as finasteride, the standard prescription drug therapy, in blocking the critical enzyme that leads to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a condition that involves symptoms such as urinary hesitancy, weak urine stream, nocturia, incontinence, and recurrent urinary tract infections. 

There are two types of 5-reductase, the enzymes that irreversibly catalyses the conversion of testosterone to the most potent androgen, 5-dihydrotestosterone (DHT). The focus of the current study was on type II 5-reductase, which is found in human prostate tissue. Researchers compared the ability of SPET-085 and finasteride to inhibit 5-reductase isoenzyme type II in vitro.

SPET-085 inhibited this enzyme at a lower dose than commonly used hexane extracts of saw palmetto. Further, SPET-085 was determined to have bioactivity similar to that of finasteride, the most commonly prescribed medicine for the treatment of BPH; side effects of this drug include decreased sex drive, impotence, or decreased ejaculate amount.

The results of this study verify the high activity of our novel saw palmetto extract, SPET-085, to help maintain healthy prostate function, said Joe Veilleux, General Manager, Euromed USA. Euromed is committed to ongoing clinical research to provide scientific evidence which will differentiate SPET-085 from other saw palmetto extracts.

"I look forward to seeing if these interesting results in the laboratory translate into better patient outcomes in the National Institutes of Health-funded CAMUS study, an ongoing 18 month clinical trial comparing this saw palmetto supplement against a placebo for urinary symptoms attributed to benign prostatic enlargement," said Michael J. Barry, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.