SLU-PP-332
ERR Agonist Exercise Mimetic
Evidence grade 1 of 5, Untested. Read how the Atlas grades evidence.
Every efficacy finding for SLU-PP-332 comes from mouse and in-vitro work out of the Burris lab at Saint Louis University, chiefly Billon et al. 2023 in ACS Chemical Biology (acute aerobic-exercise response and enhanced treadmill endurance) and Billon and Schoepke et al. 2024 in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (reduced obesity and improved insulin sensitivity in murine metabolic-syndrome models). There are zero registered human clinical trials and no controlled human data of any kind, so the evidence for the marketed endurance and fat-loss uses is animal-only and correctly graded 1.
- FDA
- Research Stage
- WADA
- Not prohibited
Reference only. Not medical advice.
What can go wrong
Not a peptide; no human trials; very early.
A small-molecule estrogen-related-receptor agonist studied as an "exercise in a pill", increased endurance and fat oxidation in mice. Grouped with metabolic peptides in community discussion. No human data.
What people take it for
These are the reasons people give for taking it. They are not effects it has been shown to have.
How it is supposed to work
SLU-PP-332 is not a peptide but a small synthetic molecule that activates ERRs (estrogen-related receptors), master regulators of cellular energy metabolism. By switching these on, it increases mitochondrial activity and fat burning and, in mice, boosts endurance and reduces weight without exercise, which earned it attention as a possible exercise mimetic.
SLU-PP-332 is a small synthetic molecule, not a peptide, developed at Saint Louis University as a research tool. It activates the estrogen-related receptors, a family of nuclear transcription factors that, despite the name, do not respond to estrogen and instead control mitochondrial production and fat metabolism.
- Type
- Small molecule, NOT a peptide
- Target
- Estrogen-related receptors
- Concept
- Exercise mimetic
- Evidence
- Mouse only
- Sport status
- Banned, WADA
- Status
- Research tool
Not Actually A Peptide, And Not Yet Exercise In A Pill
SLU-PP-332 is genuinely interesting science wrapped in two honest qualifiers, the first being that it is not a peptide at all. It is a designed small-molecule activator of the estrogen-related receptors, which sit at the center of the cell’s machinery for building mitochondria and burning fat, in a loop with the master exercise-response regulator PGC-1alpha. By switching these receptors on above their already-high baseline, it turns on much of the same gene program that endurance training activates, and in mice that translates to more mitochondria, more oxidative muscle fibers, greater fat-burning and energy expenditure, less fat mass, better insulin sensitivity, improved endurance and even protection against heart failure. That is a striking preclinical profile. The second qualifier is that all of this is in mice. There are no human trials, no approval and no established human dosing, and the term exercise mimetic describes a research mechanism, not a proven substitute for exercise or a guaranteed fat-loss therapy. It is also a banned substance in competitive sport, classed as a metabolic modulator. Sold as oral tablets and injectables for fat loss on the mouse data, it is far ahead of any human evidence.
Safety in detail
- SLU-PP-332 is an early preclinical compound with no human safety data.
- Its dramatic mouse results have not been tested in people.
- It is not available as a legitimate product; any consumer material would be unverified gray-market.
- Not approved for any use.
Children and teenagers
SLU-PP-332 has no validated pediatric use and is an unapproved research compound. There is no appropriate pediatric use.
What people get wrong
Nothing recorded here yet. There is almost certainly something people get wrong about this one, and the blank space means we have not written it down, not that the record is clean.
Who profits, and who pushes back
Nobody is named here yet, because we have not done that work on this entry. Read that as unfinished. Somebody almost certainly sells this, and somebody almost certainly disputes it. Assume both until we have checked.
SLU-PP-332 reaches users through the gray-market research-compound trade, sold as oral tablets and injectables for fat loss and endurance and frequently mislabeled as a peptide. Its legitimate future would be as a small-molecule metabolic drug requiring human trials, which have not occurred.
How we got here
SLU-PP-332 was designed and characterized in the Thomas Burris laboratory at Saint Louis University, the source of the SLU-PP prefix, building on medicinal-chemistry work that converted the ERR-beta/gamma agonist GSK4716 into pan-ERR agonists. It reached wide notice through Billon et al. 2023 in ACS Chemical Biology and the 2024 metabolic-syndrome paper, after which it moved into the gray market as a research chemical sold under vendor codes such as TBI3948 and Tocris 8112, labeled not for human consumption. It is a small molecule rather than a peptide, and it is grouped with metabolic peptides only by the wellness and research-chemical community that markets it alongside them, not by its chemistry.
SLU-PP-332 was first characterized in 2023 by a Saint Louis University laboratory as a designed activator of the estrogen-related receptors, intended as a research tool for studying the exercise gene program. Its striking mouse metabolic results drew rapid interest from fat-loss and longevity communities, where it spread, often mislabeled as a peptide, well ahead of any human testing.
The numbers behind the grade
- Type
- Small molecule (ERR agonist)
- Action
- Mitochondrial, fat-burning
- Effect (mice)
- Endurance, weight loss
- Stage
- Preclinical
- Approved
- No
- Use
- Research
The people taking it
A widely publicized experimental exercise-in-a-pill molecule from academic research, scientifically interesting but far from a usable product.
SLU-PP-332’s users are fat-loss, endurance and longevity enthusiasts drawn to the exercise-in-a-pill concept, plus researchers studying estrogen-related receptor and mitochondrial biology.
Studied in animals as an ERR-activating exercise mimetic with notable endurance and weight effects; it has no human data and no approved use.
Set against the alternatives
SLU-PP-332 is grouped with the metabolic peptides it is sold beside, the mitochondrial peptide MOTS-c, the fat-loss fragment AOD-9604 and the metabolic compound 5-Amino-1MQ, but unlike them it is a small molecule, not a peptide. Against the proven obesity drugs like Semaglutide it is an entirely unproven, mouse-stage alternative. Its distinctive mechanism is acting at the nuclear-receptor level, switching on the exercise gene program directly.
What we do not know
- Whether its striking mouse endurance and weight effects appear in humans.
- What the safety of activating ERRs broadly would be.
- Whether ERR agonism becomes a viable metabolic drug class.
Legal status
SLU-PP-332 is an experimental small molecule studied as an exercise mimetic in animals; it is not approved or available as a therapeutic. Any consumer-facing material is research-use-only.
Status current as of July 2026. Regulatory positions change, sometimes quickly.
The market for this
What follows describes how this is bought and sold. It is not a buying guide and it is not an endorsement of any seller.
There is no approved consumer route. It exists mainly as a research compound; given the limited human data, self-experimentation is not advisable.
Not produced as an approved drug for this use; any consumer-facing material is research-use-only, typically synthesized overseas in China, with no quality assurance and frequently no certificate of analysis.
What this entry does not yet cover
What follows is unfinished work on our side, not a finding about SLU-PP-332.
- Timeline. We have not built the dated record of research and regulatory events.
- Supply chain. We have not mapped where it is made.
- What could change. No forward-looking summary yet.
Sources
SLU-PP-332 is a synthetic pan-ERR (alpha/beta/gamma) agonist that induces an ERR-alpha-dependent acute aerobic exercise response and enhances exercise capacity in mice; primary discovery-class paper from the Burris lab
A synthetic ERR agonist (SLU-PP-332) alleviates metabolic syndrome, reducing obesity and improving insulin sensitivity in mouse models; ERR-alpha EC50 ~98 nM
Billon, Schoepke et al., Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 388(2):232-240 (2024)
Chemical optimization of the exercise mimetic SLU-PP-332 and structure-activity insight into ERR signaling; confirms it as a small-molecule research tool compound, not a peptide
Chemical optimization of SLU-PP-332, PMC (WashU/SLU authors)
SLU-PP-332 and SLU-PP-915 are novel pan-ERR agonists with doping potential; described as non-approved drug candidates that can be subject of the WADA Prohibited List, warranting anti-doping detection method development
Moller, Krug, Thevis, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry (2026)
In-vitro metabolites of exercise mimetic SLU-PP-332 characterized specifically for doping-control purposes, independently confirming anti-doping concern
SLU-PP-332 background, mechanism, development at Saint Louis University, and status as an experimental compound not approved for human use
SLU-PP-332 is a selective ERR agonist (most potent at ERR-alpha) sold as a research tool compound for laboratory use, not for human consumption
SLU-PP-332 catalog and mechanism entry describing it as an ERR agonist / exercise mimetic small molecule research chemical
A synthetic ERR agonist alleviates metabolic syndrome, publisher record of the 2024 JPET mouse study
The studies that matter
Exercise-mimetic studies (mice)2020s
SLU-PP-332 increased running endurance, raised energy expenditure and reduced weight gain in mice, by activating ERR-driven metabolic programs.
ERR pharmacology2020s
It is among the first reasonably specific ERR agonists, validating ERRs as a metabolic drug target.
Human studiesnone
SLU-PP-332 is preclinical, with no human studies; its effects are demonstrated only in animals.