SLU-PP-332
SLU-PP-332 is the compound behind the "exercise in a pill" headlines. The mouse results are real and striking. There are no human trials of any kind, which is why this page covers status and risk only.
- Legal lane: preclinical research compound. Not approved anywhere.
- Evidence grade: D
- Human trials: none registered
- Not a peptide: a small molecule
What it is
SLU-PP-332 is a pan-agonist of the estrogen-related receptors ERR alpha, beta and gamma, developed at Saint Louis University. Despite the name, these are not the classical estrogen receptors and this is not estrogen therapy. ERRs sit downstream of exercise in muscle, liver and heart, which is the basis for the "exercise mimetic" framing.
What the evidence shows
- Healthy mice given the compound ran about 70% longer and 45% further than untreated mice.
- Obese mice on a high-fat diet, dosed for four weeks, weighed about 12% less than placebo controls while eating the same amount of food.
- A later laboratory study exposed cultured muscle cells from inactive women to the compound and saw changes in exercise-related markers. No person received the compound in that study.
- No human trial has been conducted or registered. One of the researchers involved estimated years of further animal work, toxicology and dose-finding before human testing.
The specific unknown
The receptors it activates are concentrated in heart and liver as well as muscle. Turning all three ERR subtypes on continuously in those tissues has not been characterized in a human being at any dose, over any period. Earlier compounds in the broader exercise-mimetic space have been abandoned over safety findings in animals, which is a reason to treat the category cautiously rather than a verdict on this one.
Dosing
We do not publish a protocol for this compound. There is no human pharmacokinetic or toxicology data, so there is no basis for a dose. The figures circulating on vendor sites are not derived from any study in people.