SLU-PP-332
Exercise in a pillERR agonistEvidence
Preclinical
Typical vial
5 mg
Route
2 routes
Status
United States
What it is
A mouse compound that got a press release. It reproduced some effects of endurance training in mice, and no human has ever taken it.
SLU-PP-332 is a small molecule that activates the estrogen-related receptors, a family of transcription factors involved in mitochondrial biogenesis and oxidative metabolism. In mice it increased endurance capacity and reduced fat mass without a change in food intake. A striking result, and one widely reported as "exercise in a pill".
That phrase came from press coverage of a 2023 conference presentation and subsequent papers. The science is genuine and early-stage academic pharmacology. The compound is not in human trials.
It is being sold to people about eighteen months after the first press cycle, which is roughly the current lag between a promising mouse result and a research-chemical listing. Nothing about that lag involves a toxicology study.
There is a specific reason to be cautious beyond the general absence of data. The ERR pathway sits at the centre of cellular energy metabolism, and it is also implicated in cancer biology. ERR-alpha activity is associated with poorer outcomes in several tumour types. Chronically activating it in a whole human is a question nobody has approached.
How it works
It is a pan-agonist of the estrogen-related receptors ERR-alpha, beta and gamma. Despite the name these are orphan nuclear receptors and not oestrogen receptors. They do not bind oestrogen. The naming is a historical accident that causes constant confusion.
ERR activation increases the transcription of genes for mitochondrial biogenesis, fatty acid oxidation and oxidative phosphorylation, much the same programme endurance training switches on.
In mice this produced increased running capacity and reduced fat mass without reduced food intake. That is what generated the interest.
The same pathway is active in tumour biology. Elevated ERR-alpha activity is associated with worse prognosis in several cancers, and that is the concern chronic pharmacological activation raises.
What it is studied for
Each entry states the evidence behind it. We do not rank indications by effectiveness — for most compounds here, that would be a claim nobody can support.
Endurance and fat loss
Published reviewWhat the mouse work showed.
EvidenceIn mice, increased running capacity and reduced fat mass without reduced food intake. No human has taken it in any trial.
Regulatory status
Last reviewed 18 Aug 2026. Positions in this category change frequently, so we date the line.
Not approved anywhere and not in human trials. An academic research compound sold as a research chemical, typically as a powder with no pharmaceutical manufacturing behind it.
Identity and clearance
What the molecule is, and how long a dose stays measurable.
Molecule
- Class
- Small-molecule nuclear receptor agonist, not a peptide
- Molecular weight
- 393.4 Da
Dose protocols reported in sources
Displayed for reference only. Every row says where it came from, and a trial protocol and a community convention are not the same kind of information. None of this is fed into the calculator, and none of it is a recommendation.
A week-by-week progression is also reported for SLU-PP-332. See it against a 5 mg vial, where the syringe units can be worked out.
| Goal | Dose | Frequency | Route | Units, 5 mg vial | Source | Start this protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commonly described community protocol | 500 mcg – 2 mg | Daily | OralScaled from mouse doses by allometric guesswork. Note that the mouse studies dosed it by injection because oral bioavailability was poor. The route people are using is the one the research avoided. | 10–40 u | Community practice | Start this |
The doses above in syringe units, for the vial you have:
Start this copies a row into a protocol of your own, which you can then edit. Where a source gave a dose range or an ambiguous frequency, those fields arrive empty — we will not pick a number on your behalf.
CheckRows marked community practice describe what people commonly do, drawn from public discussion. They are not derived from any trial and are not evidence that a dose is safe or effective.
Safety
Reported effects, the situations that need care, and the ones that mean stop.
Reported effects
- EverythingCommunity practice
Unknown
No human has taken this in any study. No adverse effect is recorded because nobody has looked.
- Consequences of chronic ERR activationPublished review
Unknown, and the specific concern
The pathway is central to cellular energy metabolism and implicated in tumour biology. Long-term activation in a human is entirely uncharacterised.
- Cardiac effectsPublished review
Unknown
ERR receptors are highly expressed in heart muscle, which is metabolically among the most demanding tissue in the body. Nothing has assessed what sustained activation does there.
When to stop
- Palpitations, chest pain or breathlessness.
- Unexplained fatigue, weight loss, or night sweats.
- Any new lump or persistent unexplained symptom.
- Any allergic response: rash, hives, facial swelling or difficulty breathing. Seek urgent care.
Interactions and situations that need care
- Any history of cancerAvoid
ERR-alpha activity is associated with poorer outcomes across several tumour types. Deliberately activating that pathway with an uncharacterised compound is the clearest specific risk this molecule carries.
- Any cardiac conditionAvoid
ERR receptors are highly expressed in the heart. Nothing establishes what sustained pharmacological activation does to cardiac metabolism.
- Pregnancy and breastfeedingAvoid
No reproductive or developmental data of any kind, for a compound that reprograms cellular metabolism.
- Using it at all, at this stageUse caution
This is an academic compound about eighteen months past its first press cycle, with no human trial, no toxicology in humans, and no pharmaceutical manufacturing behind what is being sold. The mouse result is genuinely interesting. That is a reason to follow the research, not to be the first person taking it.
What to expect
What the sources describe over time, and how confident anyone can be about it.
HonestlyThere is no human efficacy data for this compound, so there is no evidence-based timeline to give. Any site publishing a week-by-week schedule of expected effects has invented it.
- No human has taken this in a study of any kind.
- 'Exercise in a pill' came from press coverage, not from a finding in people.
- The ERR pathway is implicated in tumour biology, which makes chronic activation a specific concern, not a generic unknown.
- The mouse work dosed it by injection because oral absorption was poor. Powders sold for oral use skip that.
- It is not a peptide, and it is not oestrogenic despite the receptor family's name.
Storage and combinations
How to keep it, and what it does and does not go with.
Storage and handling
- Freeze-dried powder
- Refrigerated or frozen, protected from light.
- After mixing
- A small molecule, not a peptide. Solvent choice varies, and vendors rarely say what theirs is.
- Long-term, frozen
- Stable frozen.
Checking your vial
Research chemicals carry no manufacturing standard, so what the vial looks like is often the only quality signal available before you use it.
Appearance tells you nothing here
A research-chemical powder cannot be assessed by eye, and there is no reference product to compare it against.
No certificate of analysis
For a compound this new, third-party identity and purity testing is the only evidence you have that the powder is what the label says.
Vocabulary on this page
- Bioavailability
- How much of an administered dose actually reaches the bloodstream. Injection is close to complete; swallowing a peptide is usually close to nothing.
- Peptide
- A short chain of amino acids: the same building blocks as a protein, in a chain short enough to behave differently.
- Protocol
- One compound, with a dose, a frequency and a length: the plan, as opposed to what was actually taken.
Questions
- Is it really exercise in a pill?
- In mice it reproduced part of the metabolic programme endurance training switches on. It did not reproduce the cardiovascular, skeletal, neurological or psychological effects of exercising, and no human has taken it. The phrase came from a press release.
- Is it oestrogenic?
- No. Estrogen-related receptors do not bind oestrogen. They are orphan nuclear receptors named for a structural resemblance. It is a genuinely misleading name and it causes this question constantly.
References
Everything on this page that came from a source, with the source.
SLU-PP-332, a pan-ERR agonist, increases endurance and reduces adiposity in mice
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, 2023 · Animal study
Mice
Increased running endurance and reduced fat mass without reduced food intake, attributed to increased mitochondrial biogenesis and fatty acid oxidation. No human studies have been conducted. ERR-alpha activity is separately implicated in tumour biology, which the work does not address.
10.1124/jpet.123.001733
Clinic and community practice, unverified
Med-spa marketing, compounding pharmacy menus and forums, 2026 · Anecdote
Self-selected, unverified
Formulations and schedules described outside any trial. Compounded blends vary between pharmacies, so two products under the same name are not necessarily the same thing.
Compiled community protocols
BioAlmanac editorial summary of a public protocol compilation, 2026 · Not a study
Records a week-by-week progression described on a vendor-adjacent protocol site, retrieved August 2026. Only the doses are taken from it. Its own syringe-unit conversions were checked against the vial sizes it states and several understate the volume by half, so nothing computed by that source is reproduced here — the units on this site are worked out from the vial in front of you. Carries no evidential weight about safety or effect.
SLU-PP-332 compared with
Also compared with Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, Retatrutide, Liraglutide, Cagrilintide, Orforglipron.
Related compounds
Semaglutide
A long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for type 2 diabetes and for weight management, dosed once weekly.
Tirzepatide
A once-weekly dual agonist that activates both the GIP and GLP-1 receptors, approved for type 2 diabetes and for weight management.
Retatrutide
An investigational once-weekly triple agonist acting on the GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors. Not approved anywhere.
Liraglutide
The first GLP-1 analogue approved for weight loss. A daily injection, superseded by weekly semaglutide but still the best-documented compound in the class.
Next
What to do with SLU-PP-332
- Keep a record of itTurn a dose and a schedule into a protocol, then log what you actually take. SLU-PP-332 is filled in for you.
- See what it costsPer-milligram prices read from vendor sites and confirmed by a person, so vial sizes compare.
- Check a combinationWhat our profiles record about SLU-PP-332 alongside each other compound — including the pairs where nothing is recorded.
Keep this page honest
If something here is wrong, out of date, or missing a source, tell us and we will fix it and say that we did.
This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on BioAlmanac is medical advice. No clinician reviews these pages.
Page last updated 18 Aug 2026