Libido Enhancing Drug Bremelanotide aka PT-141

Libido Enhancing Drug Bremelanotide aka PT-141

PT-141, commonly known as PT141 or Bremelanotide, has been shown in studies to exhibit libido-enhancing effects by activating melanocortin receptors.

PT 141 has been researched extensively for its possible treatment of male sexual dysfunction (erectile dysfunction or impotence), female sexual dysfunction (sexual arousal disorder), hemorrhagic shock and reperfusion injury.

PT-141 Bremelanotide, a metabolite of its predecessor Melanotan II, has the amino acid sequence Ac-Nle-cyclo(Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys-OH) and a molecular weight of 1025.2 Dalton.

PT-141 is a synthetic heptapeptide analogue of the naturally occuring alpha-Melanocyte stimulating hormone (alpha-MSH) that is currently being studied for its numerous theoretical therapeutic applications. Alpha-MSH has potent influence over lipid metabolism, appetite, and sexual libido.

Bremelanotide (a.k.a. PT-141) had undergone studies for almost a decade in a quest to make it the first-ever FDA-approved aphrodisiac to hit the U.S. market.

Bremelanotide isn't like those - neither is it simply an erectile dysfunction drug like Viagra or Cialis, so-called PDE-5 inhibitors that work by pushing blood around the body. Bremelanotide belongs to a new class of drugs called melanocortins, which work in the mind, increasing sexual desire.

Deep inside the brain, the substance stirs passion by activating hypothalamic and limbic emotional structures, the parts that naturally flare when you're turned on.

Scientists aren't exactly sure how melanocortins do this, but the result is clear: Before you know it, you want to have sex. Or at least that's what the research has shown.

Originally developed as a self-tanning agent, bremelanotide had been repurposed when male study subjects reported a surprising side effect: erections.

The drug worked equally well on women, who chronicled "an intense arousal" that lasted from six to 72 hours. "I was focused on sex," said one of the women.