There is quite a good chance that scientists of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, Calif., may have just found a drug that would eventually replace physical effort, allowing however those too lazy to run a mile, to remain fit.

While experimenting on mice, the researchers were able to observe a series of encouraging effects of the drug: it burnt fat, retained muscle mass and it also increased endurance during exercise.

David Mangelsdorf, a pharmacologist at University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the drugs would bring all the benefits of working out, but would exclude the actual sweat and effort. There is not proof yet indicating to whether or not the drug would work on humans; however, given the incredible potential of the idea, it probably won’t be long until such testing will begin.

The study’s lead researcher Ronald Evans, a molecular physiologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, said he has already received numerous calls from athletes and overweight people who wanted to find out more about the drug.

However, Michael Rennie, a physiologist at the University of Nottingham in England, said that people should not get too excited, as "mice are not men." Both mice and rats have a much more unstable metabolism than humans.

Nonetheless, Ronald Evans said his team put together detection protocols that were handed over to the World Anti-Doping Agency in Montreal. It is still unclear whether or not the testing techology would be on site by the time the Olympics start.