Skip to main
Dr PT-141

A raw, honestly-labelled reading of the PT-141 (bremelanotide) literature — what the melanocortin trials actually found, where the human data stop, and where the tolerability cost lives.

Research digest · The sources

PT-141 references: the cited bremelanotide literature.

Every quantitative claim on this site maps to one of these sources — PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, the FDA label, and the NIH LiverTox monograph.

Back to the researchCommon questions

About these PT-141 references

These PT-141 references are the published sources behind every cited figure in this digest. The human evidence centers on the two RECONNECT Phase 3 trials and their 52-week extension, the mechanistic fMRI study, and the FDA prescribing information; the preclinical and mechanistic context comes from the alpha-MSH-analogue pharmacology and the female-rat solicitation work. Each entry carries a DOI or a PubMed/ClinicalTrials.gov/NIH URL so the claim can be checked at the source. The full list is numbered below and corresponds to the inline [N] markers used across the site.

  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. Diamond LE, Earle DC, Heiman JR, Rosen RC, Perelman MA, Harning R. An Effect on the Subjective Sexual Response in Premenopausal Women with Sexual Arousal Disorder by Bremelanotide (PT-141), a Melanocortin Receptor Agonist. J Sex Med. 2006;3(4):628-638. ↗
  8. Pfaus J, Giuliano F, Gelez H. Bremelanotide: An Overview of Preclinical CNS Effects on Female Sexual Function. J Sex Med. 2007;4(Suppl 4):269-279. ↗
  9. Shadiack AM, Sharma SD, Earle DC, Spana C, Hallam TJ. Melanocortins in the Treatment of Male and Female Sexual Dysfunction. Curr Top Med Chem. 2007;7(11):1137-1144. ↗
  10. Clayton AH, Althof SE, Kingsberg S, DeRogatis LR, Kroll R, Goldstein I, et al. Bremelanotide for Female Sexual Dysfunctions in Premenopausal Women: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Dose-Finding Trial. Womens Health (Lond). 2016;12(3):325-337. ↗
  11. Althof S, Derogatis LR, Greenberg S, Clayton AH, Jordan R, Lucas J, Spana C. Responder Analyses from a Phase 2b Dose-Ranging Study of Bremelanotide. J Sex Med. 2019;16(8):1226-1235. ↗
  12. 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. ↗
  13. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Bremelanotide — LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury. 2021. ↗
  14. Dhillon S, Keam SJ. Bremelanotide: First Approval. Drugs. 2019;79:1599-1606. ↗
  15. 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. ↗
  16. 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. ↗
  17. 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. ↗
  18. 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. ↗
  19. Nelson ME, Bryant SM, Aks SE. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.). 2012. ↗
  20. 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. ↗
  21. 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. ↗
  22. Hadley ME, Dorr RT. Melanocortin peptide therapeutics: historical milestones, clinical studies and commercialization. Peptides. 2006. ↗
  23. Hedlund P. PT-141 Palatin. Current opinion in investigational drugs (London, England : 2000). 2004. ↗
  24. Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2019 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). 2020. ↗