--- title: "Scientists Working on Pill You Can Take Instead of Exercising" description: "As next-generation weight-loss treatments like Wegovy fly off the shelves, scientists are working on an exercise pill." date: "2024-03-21" modified: "2024-03-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/exercise-pill-updates" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "drugs" - "exercise" - "exercise pill" - "Weight Loss" --- # Scientists Working on Pill You Can Take Instead of Exercising ![As next-generation weight-loss treatments like Wegovy fly off the shelves, scientists are working on an exercise pill.]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* As next-generation weight-loss treatments like [Wegovy and Zepbound]() continue to [fly off the shelves](), scientists are busy working on a medicine that could mimic the effects of exercise. As explained in an [American Chemical Society press release](), trials thus far on SLU-PP-332, the potentially groundbreaking compound in question, show that it seems "capable of mimicking the physical boost of working out." "We cannot replace exercise; exercise is important on all levels," Bahaa Elgendy, an anesthesiology professor at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis who serves as the principal investigator of the new compound, said in the press release. "If I can exercise, I should go ahead and get the physical activity. But there are so many cases in which a substitute is needed." Elgendy is slated to present at the ACS annual spring meeting this week about the compound, which has shown promising results and few side effects in rodent cells — though as a University of Florida study about SLU-PP-332 from [last fall]() noted, there will need to be more animal studies to test out its safety before human trials can be conducted. All the same, it's taken years for scientists to go from theorizing about low side-effect "[exercise mimetics]()" — as the branch of potential workout-in-a-pill medications are called — to actually conducting animal trials on them and beginning to prepare them for humans. In an [interview with *Fortune*](), Elgendy was optimistic about the many ways an SLU-PP-332 pill could help those who can't exercise due to illness or physical disability, or even those who've lost weight rapidly from weight-loss medicines but haven't [shored up their muscles]() yet. "It can complement exercise programs to give more benefits to patients as well," the doctor told the magazine. "Or it can be combined with the new wave of drugs: antidiabetic drugs and drugs that are used for obesity and weight loss." SLU-PP-332 was, as the ACS press release notes, identified after more than a decade of study into specialized proteins known as estrogen-related receptors, or ERRs. After looking closely at the structure of these proteins and the molecules that bind them to others, Elgendy and his fellow scientists literally *designed new molecules* to synthesize and mimic the activation of ERRs — hence the new compound. Specifically, the compound is said to increase "a fatigue-resistant type of muscle fiber while also improving the animals' endurance when they ran on a rodent treadmill," which could make workouts easier and more effective once humans can take it, too. It will be, as Elgendy told *Fortune*, at least five years before humans are able to take SLU-PP-332 as it continues to go through animal and eventual human trials — but the prospect of a safe pill that mimics exercise is, for a lot people, worth the wait. **More on medicines of the future:** *[Scientists Working on Drug to Indefinitely Delay Menopause]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()