Melanotan II (MT-2)

The published human record for this compound is largely a record of harm, and it is unusually consistent for a substance with no controlled evidence behind it. Case reports describe systemic toxicity with sympathomimetic features, rhabdomyolysis and renal dysfunction after injection; renal infarction, reviewed alongside the earlier literature; exogenous hypercortisolism and priapism; cutaneous melanoma arising where melanocyte stimulation coincided with sunbed use; and, in a 22-year-old, a mass in the anterior maxilla after nasal spray use which histology confirmed as malignant melanoma. Reports of changes in the oral mucosa following injection have been published separately.

What is not established

Any controlled evidence at all. No randomised controlled trial was identified in this review, so there is nothing to weigh the case reports against, and case reports cannot establish how often any of this happens. There is no marketing authorisation anywhere, no pharmacopoeia monograph, and therefore no labelled dose, no labelled route and no manufacturing standard to reference. The mechanism is also the difficulty: the melanocyte stimulation that is the reason people use it is the same mechanism the melanoma reports turn on, and nothing published resolves whether that association is causal.

What distinguishes Melanotan II (MT-2)

This catalogue holds both melanocortin agonists, and they sit at opposite ends of the regulatory scale. PT-141, bremelanotide, carries a live US approval under a brand name. Melanotan II carries none, anywhere, and its sale is a criminal matter in some of the markets on our own markets list. The two are routinely conflated by sellers and by buyers, so the useful thing this page can do is separate them. It is also the only compound in the range whose published human literature consists mainly of reports of harm rather than reports of effect, and that is the fact a buyer should weigh, not the tan.

Sources

1. Melanoma associated with the use of melanotan-II. PubMed 24355990
2. Melanotan II injection resulting in systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis. PubMed 23121206
3. Melanotan II: a possible cause of renal infarction, review of the literature and case report
4. Melanotan II nasal spray: a possible risk factor for oral mucosal malignant melanoma? PubMed 40210573
5. Changes in oral mucosa associated with melanotan II injections: a case report

This page describes a compound as a material and summarises published research about it. It is for general and procurement information only. It is not medical advice, not a treatment recommendation, and not guidance on use. Supplied for laboratory and research use, not for human consumption.