An experimental drug that once made the headlines as the “couch potato pill”, for its capacity to mimic the effects of exercise in sedentary mice, may have another use, as a way to protect against heat stroke. In a new study about to be published in the journal Nature Medicine, scientists describe how the experimental therapy, called AICAR, protected animals with a genetic predisposition to heat stroke. They hope it means the drug holds promise for treating people who are susceptible to heat-induced sudden death.
