Cell doi:10.1016/j.cell.2008.06.051 (2008)

Researchers have identified what they say are the first targeted drugs that boost physical endurance.

The team, led by Ronald Evans at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, tested the effects of two drugs. The first, called GW1516, boosts activity of the gene that encodes PPARδ, a protein involved in metabolism, and, when combined with exercise training, allowed mice to run up to 70% farther than untreated mice.

The researchers then dosed mice with the second drug, AICAR, which acts on an enzyme known as AMPK that is normally activated by exercise. Even though the mice did not undergo exercise training, AICAR boosted their endurance by 44% and remodelled their physiological and genetic characteristics in ways similar to exercise.