• Question: To what extent can pharmaceuticals replace hormones in the human body and will be there a time in the future when it would be easier to use pharmaceuticals rather than wait for hormones to come into affect?

    Asked by hecticz to Derek, Elaine, Heather, Keith on 23 Jun 2013.
    • Photo: Heather Eyre

      Heather Eyre answered on 23 Jun 2013:

      We can already make synthetic hormones – they are used to treat thyroid disease and during the menopause, but I don’t think it would ever be easier to use pharmaceuticals in place of hormones.

      It’s really important that a hormone is released at the right time and reaches it’s correct target – otherwise it wouldn’t do the right job!

      I think it would bit like sending a banker to a building site in the middle of the night – it just wouldn’t work as well as waiting for the builder to turn up the next day!

    • Photo: Derek Ball

      Derek Ball answered on 24 Jun 2013:

      Hello, this is a really interesting question and one that I am sure pharmaceutical companies have wrestled with for a long time. There are a range of hormones that are replaced (or their effects are supplemented), we have drugs that mimic the action of insulin, although this is not the same as taking insulin injections. The difficulty in producing drugs (or synthetic hormones) is the potential side effects that these compounds can induce. I am not sure what you mean about taking an artificial hormone that works quicker.

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