There are regulatory hurdles too. The FDA approves medications to treat diseases, not to enhance wellness, says Thomas Burris, a pharmacologist at the University of Florida whose work focuses on diseases that respond to exercise, like obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia.<\/p>\n
The progress<\/h3>\n
There may never be a pill that delivers all the benefits of exercise, but research could lead to new medicines that mimic some aspects of working out. Scientists have already identified many important exercise-related signals and have even developed compounds to regulate them. (Some preliminary results have been so promising that doping authorities have proactively banned the compounds.) <\/p>\n
Burris and his colleagues are focused on a receptor that\u2019s always switched on, even without exercise. Working out appears to boost that receptor in muscle cells, which in turn helps bolster endurance over time. Burris\u2019s lab has spent years designing a drug<\/a> that cranks up the receptor\u2019s activity directly, and mice treated with the drug ran longer and farther than mice that weren\u2019t. They \u201cbecome marathon mice without having to do any type of exercise,\u201d Burris says. There are even indications\u2014also in mice\u2014that the compound mimics some of the cognitive benefits of exercise and could help treat heart failure. Burris founded a company called Pelagos to carry the work forward into a clinical trial.<\/p>\n
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