London, Sept 15 : US scientists are getting closer to developing a pill that could mimic the effects of a pacemaker.

They have discovered exactly how the lifesaving heart device works within the body to strengthen failing hearts.

An artificial pacemaker takes over the heart's natural one, sending electrical impulses which make the heart contract and produce a heartbeat.

Now it is hoped drugs or genetic therapies will replace the device. It would mean thousands, especially those unsuitable for a pacemaker, could benefit.

"We have revealed a biological mechanism that helps us understand how it works," the Daily Express quoted Dr David Kass, senior author of the new study at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, as saying.

"With this we can work to develop new treatments, like a drug or gene therapy, to have a kind of `pacemaker in a bottle' to help a wide variety of patients," he added. (ANI)