Exercise-mimicking drug sheds weight, boosts muscle activity in mice
medicalxpress.com
A brand-new kind of drug, tested in mice, shows promising new results that could lead to the development of a new weight-loss drug that mimics exercise.
  • PoorlyWrittenPapyrus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    77·
    9 months ago

    This is incredible news if you are a mouse.

    Let’s hope it translates to humans without also causing cancer or some other horrible condition as all of these miracle drugs seem to.

  • Erasmus@lemmy.worldEnglish
    35·
    9 months ago

    Soon to be available for humans for the low low price of 10k per dose. Thanks to big Pharma.

    • FaceDeer@kbin.social
      105·
      9 months ago

      And then a few years later in generic form for much, much less.

      I’m actually not terribly put out by the initial high cost of these things, especially when it’s something that isn’t a vital life-saving treatment that people have no choice but to try. Every new technology starts out expensive and gets cheaper as competition arises and better manufacturing techniques are developed.

      • qprimed@lemmy.mlEnglish
        104·
        9 months ago

        especially when it’s something that isn’t a vital life-saving treatment that people have no choice but to try

        last time I checked, life was terminal.

        • FaceDeer@kbin.social
          52·
          9 months ago

          I don’t see how that’s relevant. This is about a drug that simulates exercise. It’s a convenience drug. If you’re literally dying from lack of exercise, there are other less conveninet ways to do that already.

          • qprimed@lemmy.mlEnglish
            21·
            9 months ago

            the trend is toward life-extention beyond natural limits. this has massive social implications and I don’t see anything that promises real artificial longevity ever becoming affordable by us plebs.

            • FaceDeer@kbin.social
              11·
              9 months ago

              “Real” artificial longevity doesn’t exist yet. You’re jumping rather far ahead in that assumption.

              • qprimed@lemmy.mlEnglish
                2·
                9 months ago

                pehaps, but the trend is there and its accelerating. I suspect that in short order (timeline unknown) we will actually have a legitimately marketable “life extension” option at which point its only a matter of degrees. the extra x years that you and I might possibly afford will eventually pale in comparison to the extra y years for the truly wealthy - at that point, generational wealth and power take on a wholly new and rather frightening dimension.

                I admit… I may have a particularly bleak view of our possible futures, but an “undead” ruling class does not figure into any rosy endings that I can envision.

                • FaceDeer@kbin.social
                  11·
                  9 months ago

                  I think my “and then a few years later in generic form for much, much less” prediction would still apply here. There’s always going to be demand for life-extension treatments at every wealth level, so any company that can figure out how to make it more cheaply than the others is going to have an additional market they can offer the treatment to that’s further down the pay scale from the others. A pharma company wouldn’t maximize profit by selling to only a handful of billionaires when they could also be selling to all the millionaires that are also out there.

    • jackoneill@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      9 months ago

      yeah i’m with you this sounds like they gave mice some meth and went heeyyyyyyy weight loss

      no shit

    • Sagrotan@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      Heroin. In the right amount it actually slows aging a bit. Emphasis on THE RIGHT AMOUNT. It slows other things too, though.

  • Crozekiel@lemmy.zipEnglish
    12·
    9 months ago

    Okay but what does it do with the energy from burning the fat?? Like, if you aren’t moving or doing anything you just have an excess of energy going where?

    • RobotToaster@mander.xyzEnglish
      11·
      9 months ago

      In summary, the ERR agonist SLU-PP-332 functions as an exercise mimetic inducing an acute aerobic exercise program that leads to myriad physiological adaptations that are associated with exercise including increased skeletal muscle oxidative fibers, increased fatty acid oxidation, and enhanced exercise endurance

      Gainz

    • SuiXi3D@kbin.social
      111·
      9 months ago

      Well, waste energy is expelled as heat so… I bet they heat up. Kinda like how if you take a stimulant that raises your heart rate but you aren’t doing anything at the same time, you tend to feel warmer.

      I assume that’s how it works, anyways.

  • Guy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    81·
    9 months ago

    I’ll be interested when it also mimics the psychological effects of working out.