A promise of relief needs facts behind it
PT-141 references identify the studies behind benefits and warnings.
Hoped-for relief can sound greater than the improvement women actually reported. A paper can help you check the claim. Some sources only announce planned tests. Others question whether small gains in desire felt useful.
Numbered references link claims to studies and medicine instructions
Hearing a promise of relief may leave you wanting firmer answers. The numbers beside claims match the studies and instructions listed below. DailyMed carries the FDA medicine instructions; NIH LiverTox explains the liver findings. I'd bring the paper behind a claim if you want your doctor to explain it.
A study describes the participants and what happened to them. An announcement of planned testing can't establish that anyone improved. One review questioned whether women's small gain in desire was large enough to matter. Ask your doctor why that doubt remains beside the findings supporting approval.
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- Dhillon S, Keam SJ. Bremelanotide: First Approval. Drugs. 2019;79:1599-1606. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- Spielmans GI. Re-Analyzing Phase III Bremelanotide Trials for "Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder" in Women. J Sex Res. 2021;58(9):1085-1105. ↗
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Bremelanotide. LiverTox: Clinical and Research Information on Drug-Induced Liver Injury. NCBI Bookshelf; 2021. ↗
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration / DailyMed. Bremelanotide Injection — US Prescribing Information (structured product label). 2019. ↗
- 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. ↗
- Palatin Technologies, Inc. Announcement of the initiation of a Phase 2 clinical study of bremelanotide co-administered with a PDE-5 inhibitor for erectile dysfunction (corporate press release). 2024. ↗
- Tan R, et al. Telemedicine Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic in 8 Countries From the International Society for Sexual Medicine. J Med Internet Res. 2025;27:e60369. ↗
- Rowen T, et al. Evaluation and management of hypoactive sexual desire disorder in women: recommendations from a multidisciplinary panel. Sex Med Rev. 2026;qeaf057. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- Nelson ME, Bryant SM, Aks SE. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.). 2012. ↗
- 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. ↗
- 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. ↗
- Hadley ME, Dorr RT. Melanocortin peptide therapeutics: historical milestones, clinical studies and commercialization. Peptides. 2006. ↗
- Hedlund P. PT-141 Palatin. Current opinion in investigational drugs (London, England : 2000). 2004. ↗
- Al Shaer D, Al Musaimi O, Albericio F, de la Torre BG. 2019 FDA TIDES (Peptides and Oligonucleotides) Harvest. Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland). 2020. ↗