Groundbreaking New Medication Tricks the Body Into Believing It’s Exercising for Weight Loss and Enhanced Stamina

Researchers from the University of Florida have conducted experiments with a novel drug, SLU-PP-332, on mice, demonstrating its ability to deceive the body into perceiving exercise-like effects. This breakthrough medication has shown potential in promoting weight loss, increasing endurance, and elevating metabolism, all while leaving appetite and physical activity levels untouched. Termed an “exercise mimetic,” this drug has significant implications for addressing conditions like obesity, diabetes, and muscle loss by activating specific metabolic pathways. The next phase involves refining the drug further and advancing it to human trials.

A groundbreaking pharmaceutical compound, tested on mice, presents promising results that may herald a new era in weight loss management through simulated exercise effects.

The innovative formula, developed and assessed by a University of Florida pharmacy professor and a team of researchers, induces weight loss in obese mice by convincing their muscles that they are engaged in more physical activity than they actually are, thereby enhancing their metabolism.

Furthermore, this medication substantially boosts endurance, enabling mice to run nearly 50% farther than their previous capacity, all without requiring any actual physical exertion.

This novel drug belongs to the category known as “exercise mimetics,” offering some of the advantages of exercise without necessitating an increase in physical activity. While still in its early developmental stages, this treatment holds the promise of potentially addressing conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and age-related muscle deterioration. This development is particularly significant, given recent breakthroughs like Ozempic, which have successfully curbed appetite and aided in treating metabolic disorders.

Remarkably, the newly discovered drug, named SLU-PP-332, does not influence appetite or food consumption. Likewise, it does not encourage mice to engage in additional physical activity. Instead, it stimulates a natural metabolic pathway typically triggered by exercise. In essence, the drug induces the body to behave as if it were training rigorously for an endurance event, leading to increased energy expenditure and accelerated fat metabolism.

Thomas Burris, a professor of pharmacy at the University of Florida who spearheaded the recent research on this innovative drug, explained, “This compound is basically telling skeletal muscle to make the same changes you see during endurance training. When you treat mice with the drug, you can see that their whole-body metabolism turns to using fatty acids, which is very similar to what people use when they are fasting or exercising. And the animals start losing weight.”

Collaborating with researchers from Washington University in St. Louis and St. Louis University, Burris unveiled his findings in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics on September 22.

The drug operates by targeting a group of proteins within the body known as ERRs, which play a pivotal role in activating critical metabolic pathways in energy-demanding tissues such as muscles, the heart, and the brain. These ERRs are typically more active during physical exercise but have proven challenging to activate through pharmaceutical means.

In a prior study published in March, the research team reported their success in designing SLU-PP-332 to enhance ERRs’ activity. They also observed that the compound enabled normal-weight mice to run for 70% longer and 45% farther compared to mice not receiving the drug.

In their most recent research, the drug was administered to obese mice. Remarkably, treating these obese mice twice daily for a month resulted in a 10-fold reduction in fat gain compared to untreated mice and a 12% decrease in their overall body weight. Strikingly, the treated mice continued to consume the same amount of food and did not engage in increased physical activity.

Burris explained, “They use more energy just living.”

Furthermore, ongoing research from the Burris lab suggests that the compound may also offer a potential treatment for heart failure in mice by bolstering heart muscle function.

Thus far, the drug has not exhibited any severe side effects. The next critical step in the development of SLU-PP-332 into a viable drug candidate involves refining its structure, ideally making it available in pill form rather than as an injection. Subsequently, the drug will undergo further testing for side effects in additional animal models before advancing to human clinical trials.

While several exercise mimetics have been explored, none have successfully reached the market, primarily due to the lengthy drug development process. Historically, developing drugs for obesity has been challenging due to the complex nature of the condition. However, recent breakthroughs with medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro, originally designed to treat diabetes, have demonstrated the potential to induce weight loss, sparking substantial interest, research, and funding into drugs targeting metabolic disorders through alternative biological pathways.

Burris believes that the most significant potential for this new drug lies in preserving muscle mass during weight loss, a challenge often associated with the loss of lean muscle tissue, as well as in countering the natural decline in exercise effectiveness as individuals age. However, comprehensive research is needed to fully comprehend the drug’s scope and potential.

Burris concluded, “This may be able to keep people healthier as they age.”

Reference: “A Synthetic ERR Agonist Alleviates Metabolic Syndrome” by Cyrielle Billon, Emmalie Schoepke, Amer Avdagic, Arindam Chatterjee, Andrew A. Butler, Bahaa Elgendy, John K. Walker and Thomas P. Burris, September 22, 2023, Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics.
DOI: 10.1124/jpet.123.001733

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Exercise Mimetic Drug

More about Exercise Mimetic Drug

• University of Florida Researchers (University of Florida)
• Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (Research Paper)
• Ozempic (Official Website)
• Wegovy (Official Website)
• Mounjaro (Official Website)