Nick Norwitz explains ATX-304, an experimental drug that activates AMPK, the cellular switch exercise flips to let muscles absorb glucose without insulin. In diabetic animals, it normalized blood sugar and boosted endurance. It's not a replacement for exercise.
There is a pill being studied right now that can do something we used to think only exercise could do. It pulls sugar into muscles without insulin. Now stay with me because the how is the wild part. Here's the deal: sugar usually needs a key to get into muscles. That key is insulin. But exercise has a backdoor. It flips a molecular switch called AMPK, which is basically your cell's fuel gauge, and in doing so, it shoves sugar into muscles anyway, independent of insulin. It's kind of like if the door is locked, the insulin key isn't working, and it's shoving sugar through a window in the muscle house. Maybe that makes sense. Bottom line, no insulin required. So researchers asked, what if a molecule could flip that same switch without exercise? It exists. It does have an ugly name, ATX-304, which I know sounds like a Star Wars droid, but it's extremely cool and being tested in phase 2 human trials, and also being used recreationally with some pretty remarkable results. You can see the caption for details. And in animals with type 1 diabetes, this is where insulin is just gone, ATX-304 brought blood sugar back to normal, no insulin required. It also protected against obesity and improved endurance exercise performance. Now to be clear, don't give up exercise. You should still exercise and go for walks, but
