In recent years, drugs like Wegovy have become all the rage.

I mean, who doesn’t love the idea of being able to maintain a healthy weight by just taking a shot?

Wegovy has a few negative side effects, and some people don’t like needles – so, what if you could get the same results from a pill?

The American Chemical Society issued a press release regarding trials for SLU-PP-332, which is a compound that “seems capable of mimicking the physical boost of working out.”

Bahaa Elgendy, an anesthesiology professor, is the principal investigator of the compound.

“We cannot replace exercise; exercise is important on all levels. 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.”

The compound has shown promising results and few side effects in trials with rodents, and more animal studies are in the works.

Elgendy and others think a pill like this could be helpful for those who can’t exercise due to illness or physical disability, people who have lost weight rapidly and haven’t toned their muscles, or even people whose weight gain is due to hormonal factors.

“It can complement exercise programs to give more benefits to patients as well. 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 identified after more than a decade of study. After digging through specialized proteins known as estrogen-related receptors (EERs), they literally designed new molecules to synthesize and mimic their activation.

Specifically, this 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.”

Elgendy estimates that it will be at least five years before humans are able to ingest the compound.

That said, it doesn’t sound like they foresee anything but time and red tape to stop it from becoming a reality.

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