A tan with little sun: What Is Melanotan 2?

The drug copies a hormone that darkens skin

A dark patch of skin may be the first thing you notice. Melanotan 2 is made by joining amino acids, the small chemicals your body uses to build proteins.

The drug copies a hormone that orders skin to make brown color. It may also dull your hunger and cause erections in men.

If you asked me at the table, I'd call it a lab drug that never became medicine. No agency has cleared the drug for any use ^[4].

Melanotan, Melanotan II, MT-2, and MT2 are all names for the same drug. Scientists made it in the 1980s, but full approval never came.

Two related drugs did become medicines. Their approval doesn't cover this one.

Melanotan, MT2, and Melanotan II name the same drug

Several names make the drug look more confusing than it is. Melanotan II, MT-2, and MT2 all mean the same thing.

You may also see Melanotan, though that word can mean the whole drug family. You don't need to picture the small loop that chemists make from the joined amino acids; it helps the drug resist breaking apart.

One paper lists its lab weight as 1024 daltons. Chemists use daltons to tell tiny molecules apart; the figure says nothing about your dose, safety, or likely result.

MT2 isn't Melanotan I, the medicine for a rare sun illness. It also isn't bremelanotide, the related medicine approved for some women's low sexual desire.

When you search Melanotan II, you'll find both real papers and unlicensed sellers. The numbered sources here lead you back to published work ^[22].

Researchers hoped a drug-made tan could reduce sun use

Melanotan 2 was made at an Arizona university in the late 1980s ^[29]. Researchers hoped a drug-made tan might cut sun use and skin-cancer risk.

They changed a body hormone and joined its amino acids into a loop. What matters to you is that the copy lasted longer and worked at a smaller amount.

In an early study, men's skin became darker ^[1]. Erections also occurred, which led to work on a separate medicine for erection trouble ^[29].

You won't find approval for tanning use because it never came. By the mid-2000s, unlicensed sellers offered shots online despite warnings from drug agencies ^[30].

You may still come across those sellers. In my view, easy access doesn't turn an unapproved drug into checked medicine.

Melanotan 2, Melanotan I, and PT-141 are separate drugs

You can separate these three related drugs by the main effects you read about. Approval applies only to the exact drug that earned it.

• Melanotan 2: this drug acts in several body parts. Skin color, hunger, sexual interest, body heat, and skin oil may change, and no drug agency has approved it ^[4].
• Afamelanotide, also called Melanotan I: this medicine mainly affects skin color. Its approval is for a rare illness where brief sunlight causes great pain ^[27], not for Melanotan 2.
• Bremelanotide, also called PT-141: this relative came from the Melanotan 2 family and was shaped for more sexual effects. It has approval for low sexual desire in some women ^[28], not for Melanotan 2.

Two relatives became medicines, while Melanotan 2 didn't. Its human studies stayed small, so your doctor and you don't know the harm from years of use ^[6].

You can read why the effects differ on the melanotan 2 mechanism of action page. It follows the orders that skin and brain cells receive.