Soon To Come: Exercise, The Drug

First, Bryan Ferry told us that Love is a drug; now researchers at the University of Sydney are suggesting that exercise could soon be a drug too. A University of Sydney news story reports that researchers at the school have identified 1,000 molecular changes that occur in our muscles when we exercise, providing the world’s first comprehensive exercise blueprint. Next, they hope to design a drug that mimics the beneficial changes. Yes, it’s a long-term goal, but they have already narrowed down the therapeutic possibilities within the blueprint using mathematical and engineering-based analysis.

“Most traditional drugs target individual molecules,” says researcher David James. “With this exercise blueprint we have proven that any drug that mimics exercise will need to target multiple molecules and possibly even pathways, which are a combination of molecules working together. We believe this is the key to unlocking the riddle of drug treatments to mimic exercise.”  Maybe.