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Prescribed PT-141

An access-aware research digest on PT-141 (bremelanotide) — what the literature establishes, exactly where the FDA approval begins and ends, and what sits outside it.

The literature / sources

PT-141 References and Sources

Every claim on this site maps to one of these sources — peer-reviewed studies, reviews, and the FDA prescribing information, with PMIDs and DOIs.

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How to read this list

These are the sources cited across the site, numbered to match the inline markers. They include the founding melanocortin pharmacology, the two Phase 3 RECONNECT trials and their long-term extension, the human fMRI mechanism study, the FDA prescribing information, regulatory and review articles, and a forensic study on unregulated supply. Where a study is paywalled, the PubMed or DOI link still resolves to the abstract and metadata. PT-141 references here are the bremelanotide research record; nothing on this site relies on a claim absent from this list.

  1. Molinoff PB, Shadiack AM, Earle D, Diamond LE, Quon CY. PT-141: a melanocortin agonist for the treatment of sexual dysfunction. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2003;994:96-102. ↗
  2. Pfaus J, Shadiack A, Van Soest T, Tse M, Molinoff P. Selective facilitation of sexual solicitation in the female rat by a melanocortin receptor agonist. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2004;101:10201-10204. ↗
  3. Kingsberg SA, Clayton AH, Portman D, Williams LA, Krop J, Jordan R, Lucas J, Simon JA. Bremelanotide for the Treatment of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder: Two Randomized Phase 3 Trials. Obstet Gynecol. 2019;134(5):899-908. ↗
  4. Simon JA, Kingsberg SA, Portman D, Williams LA, Krop J, Jordan R, Lucas J, Clayton AH. Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Bremelanotide for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. Obstet Gynecol. 2019;134(5):909-917. ↗
  5. Thurston L, Hunjan T, Mills EG, et al. Melanocortin 4 receptor agonism enhances sexual brain processing in women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder. J Clin Invest. 2022;132(19):e152341. ↗
  6. Borland JM, Kohut-Jackson AL, Peyla AC, Hall MA, Mermelstein PG, Meisel RL. Female Syrian hamster analyses of bremelanotide, a US FDA approved drug for the treatment of female hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Neuropharmacology. 2025;267:110299. ↗
  7. U.S. Food and Drug Administration / DailyMed. Bremelanotide Injection — US Prescribing Information. 2019. ↗
  8. Hedlund P. PT-141 Palatin. Curr Opin Investig Drugs. 2004. ↗
  9. Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2019 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest. Pharmaceuticals (Basel). 2020;13(3):40. ↗
  10. Dhillon S, Keam SJ. Bremelanotide: First Approval. Drugs. 2019;79:1599-1606. ↗
  11. Croft HA. Understanding the Role of Serotonin in Female Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder and Treatment Options. J Sex Med. 2017. ↗
  12. Aughton KL, Hamilton-Smith K, Gupta J, Morton JS, Wayman CP, Jackson VM. Pharmacological profiling of neuropeptides on rabbit vaginal wall and vaginal artery smooth muscle in vitro. Br J Pharmacol. 2008. ↗
  13. Mestria S, Odoardi S, Frison G, Strano Rossi S. LC-HRMS characterization of the skin pigmentation and sexual enhancers melanotan II and bremelanotide sold on the black market of performance and image enhancing drugs. Drug Test Anal. 2021. ↗
  14. White WB, Myers MG, Jordan R, Lucas J. Usefulness of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring to assess the melanocortin receptor agonist bremelanotide. J Hypertens. 2017;35(4):761-768. ↗
  15. Clayton AH, Lucas J, DeRogatis LR, Jordan R. Phase I Randomized Placebo-controlled, Double-blind Study of the Safety and Tolerability of Bremelanotide Coadministered With Ethanol in Healthy Male and Female Participants. Clin Ther. 2017;39(3):514-526.e14. ↗
  16. Clayton AH, Kingsberg SA, Portman D, Sadiq A, Jordan R, Lucas J, Spana C, Simon JA. Safety Profile of Bremelanotide Across the Clinical Development Program. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2022;31(2):171-182. ↗
  17. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (LiverTox). Bremelanotide - LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury. NCBI Bookshelf (LiverTox). 2021. ↗
  18. Nelson ME, Bryant SM, Aks SE. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.). 2012. ↗
  19. Spana C, Jordan R, Fischkoff S. Effect of bremelanotide on body weight of obese women: Data from two phase 1 randomized controlled trials. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022;24(6):1084-1093. ↗
  20. Bardhan M, Anand A, Javed A, Chilo MA, Khan N, Garg T. Polymorphism of Melanocortin Receptor Genes-Association with Inflammatory Traits and Diseases. Diseases (Basel, Switzerland). 2025. ↗
  21. Hadley ME, Dorr RT. Melanocortin peptide therapeutics: historical milestones, clinical studies and commercialization. Peptides. 2006. ↗