Couch potatoes all over the world, here’s your chance to lose weight due to a “magic” pill, which allows you to eat as much as you like without putting on a pound. Too much to be true, you might add, but French researchers say the experimental drug SRT1720 can essentially trick the body into believing food is scarce even when it is not. It’s true that the drug was only tested on mice but further tests on humans might turn your dream into the most desired reality.

The drug, SRT1720, a chemical cousin of red wine extract resveratrol, targets protein SIRT1, which is believed to combat ageing and help prevent heart disease and cancer. The drug was developed by Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, a GlaxoSmithKline company.

The University of Louis Pasteur researchers found that giving mice a low dose of SRT1720 for 10 weeks partially protected them from gaining weight on a high-fat diet. On the other hand, higher doses completely prevented weight gain. The drug appeared to improve blood sugar tolerance and insulin sensitivity, which are important for warding off diabetes. Moreover, it gave the mice greater athletic ability.

“These results show that new synthetic SIRT1 activators can reproduce the positive metabolic effects that were previously demonstrated using resveratrol. But unlike resveratrol, these new chemical entities target only the SIRT1 pathway, making them more selective and potent for achieving these metabolic benefits,” Researcher Professor Johan Auwerx, of the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, said.

The mice on the experiment showed no side effects, but scientists said it’s too early to use the drug in humans. More tests are needed to test its safety and efficacy before it could be used in humans.