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PT-141 Get

A clinical reading room on PT-141 (bremelanotide): what's approved, what's only studied, and what the evidence actually says.

The literature

PT-141 references

Every source cited across this site — the pivotal trials, the mechanism studies, the regulatory label, and the critical reviews.

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How to read this list

Each PT-141 reference below is numbered to match the inline citations across the site. The list spans the foundational pharmacology, the pivotal Phase 3 RECONNECT trials and their open-label extension, the mechanistic fMRI study, the US prescribing information, and the critical reviews that question the size of the benefit. Where a DOI or PubMed identifier exists, it is given. This is the complete cited record for the site — a reading of published science, not medical advice.

  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 (structured product label). 2019. ↗
  8. Clayton AH, Kingsberg SA, Goldstein I. Evaluation and Management of Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. Sex Med. 2018;6(2):59-74. ↗
  9. Mintzes B, Tiefer L, Cosgrove L. Bremelanotide and flibanserin for low sexual desire in women: the fallacy of regulatory precedent. Drug Ther Bull. 2021;59(12):185-188. ↗
  10. Hedlund P. PT-141 Palatin. Curr Opin Investig Drugs. 2004;5(4):456-462. ↗
  11. Miller MK, Smith JR, Norman JJ, Clayton AH. Expert opinion on existing and developing drugs to treat female sexual dysfunction. Expert Opin Emerg Drugs. 2018;23(3):223-230. ↗
  12. King SH, Mayorov AV, Balse-Srinivasan P, Hruby VJ, Vanderah TW, Wessells H. Melanocortin receptors, melanotropic peptides and penile erection. Curr Top Med Chem. 2007;7(11):1098-1106. ↗
  13. Nelson ME, Bryant SM, Aks SE. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. Clin Toxicol (Phila). 2012;50(10):1169-1173. ↗
  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. 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. ↗
  19. 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. ↗
  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. Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2019 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). 2020. ↗