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PT-141 Chemical Lab-notebook digest of the PT-141 record: a melanocortin agonist that works in the brain, charted from receptor to clinic.

STUDY AUTHORS / STUDY PAPERS

Where can you look up a PT-141 finding?

Bremelanotide is a medicine studied for sexual effects and health risks. This list helps you find the original paper or written medicine instructions behind each numbered finding.

Return to the women’s studiesRead the brain evidence again

How do you find the paper behind a claim?

Each numbered reference names the people who reported the finding. You can find the journal, year, and a link where available.

The list includes Phase 3 trials, the large tests done before medicine approval. Animal work, brain scans, medicine instructions, and reviews of the small benefits are included too.

A journal warned in 2023 that an erection study from 2008 might be unreliable. The information here doesn’t explain the reason, so you can’t treat that disputed paper as dependable proof.

  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, Wall MB, Ertl N, Phylactou M, 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. DailyMed (US FDA structured product label). 2019. ↗
  8. Sweeney P, Gimenez LE, Hernandez CC, Cone RD. Targeting the central melanocortin system for the treatment of metabolic disorders. Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2023. ↗
  9. Sweeney P, Gimenez LE, Hernandez CC, Cone RD. Targeting the central melanocortin system for the treatment of metabolic disorders (mechanistic review; MC4R appetite circuitry and class context). Nat Rev Endocrinol. 2023. ↗
  10. Carson CC 3rd. Central nervous system-acting agents and the treatment of erectile and sexual dysfunction. Curr Urol Rep. 2007;8(6):xxx. ↗
  11. Kingsberg SA, Clayton AH, Pfaus JG. The Female Sexual Response: Current Models, Neurobiological Underpinnings and Agents Currently Approved or Under Investigation for the Treatment of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. CNS Drugs. 2015;29(11). ↗
  12. Hadley ME, Dorr RT. Melanocortin peptide therapeutics: historical milestones, clinical studies and commercialization. Peptides. 2006;27(4):921-930. ↗
  13. Kim S, Cho MC, Cho SY, Chung H, Rajasekaran MR. Novel Emerging Therapies for Erectile Dysfunction. World J Mens Health. 2021;39(1):48-64. ↗
  14. Spielmans GI. Re-Analyzing Phase III Bremelanotide Trials for 'Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder' in Women. J Sex Res. 2021;58(9):1085-1105. (See also Spielmans GI. Small Effects, Questionable Outcomes: Bremelanotide for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. J Sex Res. 2024.) ↗
  15. Dhillon S, Keam SJ. Bremelanotide: First Approval. Drugs. 2019;79:1599-1606. ↗
  16. 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. ↗
  17. 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. ↗
  18. 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. ↗
  19. 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. ↗
  20. 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 testing and analysis. 2021. ↗
  21. Nelson ME, Bryant SM, Aks SE. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis.. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.). 2012. ↗
  22. 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. ↗
  23. 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. ↗
  24. Hedlund P. PT-141 Palatin.. Current opinion in investigational drugs (London, England : 2000). 2004. ↗
  25. Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2019 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest.. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). 2020. ↗