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Online PT-141

A bright, plain-spoken digest of the PT-141 (bremelanotide) literature — what the trials and the label actually measured, with tolerability read first and the community's field reports kept clearly to one side.

the papers and label behind each claim

PT-141 references: check the studies for yourself.

You'll find the studies, medical reviews, and FDA label named on the other pages.

Back to the findingsRead short answers

The numbered list below names every source

Each health claim on this site points to a numbered source below. The list includes early drug work and two Phase 3 trials. These are the final large tests used to support approval. You will also find the long follow-up, brain scans, later reviews, and the FDA label.

Below this short guide is the numbered list. Each entry gives the paper title and a link. Match a claim's number to that entry. Then you can read what the paper found and where its limits lie.

Personal reports on the research and side-effects pages aren't in this list. We mark them as stories that trials haven't proved. They aren't medical advice.

Entry 6 below is the FDA label. It states the approved use and the limits. You can compare those facts with what you hear elsewhere.

  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. U.S. Food and Drug Administration / DailyMed. Bremelanotide Injection — US Prescribing Information. 2019. ↗
  7. 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. ↗
  8. Cipriani S, Maseroli E, Vignozzi L. An evaluation of bremelanotide injection for the treatment of hypoactive sexual desire disorder. Expert Opin Pharmacother. 2023;24(1):15-21. ↗
  9. Koochaki P, Revicki D, Wilson H, Pokrzywinski R, Jordan R, Lucas J, Williams LA. The Patient Experience of Premenopausal Women Treated with Bremelanotide for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. J Womens Health (Larchmt). 2021;30(4):587-595. ↗
  10. Spielmans GI. Re-Analyzing Phase III Bremelanotide Trials for "Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder" in Women. J Sex Res. 2021;58(9):1085-1105. ↗
  11. 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;110299. ↗
  12. Vereecken S, et al. Comparative Analysis of Flibanserin, Bremelanotide, and Testosterone Therapy for Female Sexual Dysfunction (abstract 396). J Sex Med. 2025. ↗
  13. How A, Simon JA. Novel Pharmacologic Treatments of Female Sexual Dysfunction. Clin Obstet Gynecol. 2025. ↗
  14. Rowen T, et al. Evaluation and management of hypoactive sexual desire disorder in women. Recommendations from a multidisciplinary panel. Sex Med Rev. 2026. ↗
  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. Hadley ME, Dorr RT. Melanocortin peptide therapeutics: historical milestones, clinical studies and commercialization. Peptides. 2006. ↗
  25. Hedlund P. PT-141 Palatin. Current opinion in investigational drugs (London, England : 2000). 2004. ↗
  26. Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2019 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). 2020. ↗