Does Melanotan II work?
Not properly: animal or lab studies, or small uncontrolled human reports. One report of 3 men.
The human evidence is a 1996 pilot phase 1 study in three men, plus case reports of melanoma and changing moles in users. No controlled trial of Melanotan II has been published for tanning or any other use. 2345
The 1996 pilot phase 1 study gave three healthy men Melanotan II or saline on alternating days for two weeks. Two men developed measurable darkening of the face, upper body and buttocks a week after dosing stopped. Mild nausea occurred at most dose levels. One man had marked sleepiness and fatigue at the highest trial dose. After injections, a stretching-and-yawning pattern came first. Then came spontaneous erections lasting one to five hours. 2
Since then the published human literature has been case reports. One was a 20-year-old woman with fair skin who developed melanoma after a course of Melanotan II combined with sunbed use. Dermatology reports from 2008 and 2009 described users whose moles darkened, grew or changed in ways that looked like melanoma. These reports cannot prove cause. But they are the only outcome data available. 345
Evidence checklist
- Randomised controlled trial Three-man pilot study; case reports only
- Human study over 100 people Three men
- More than one research group No independent controlled study
- Clinical outcomes, not surrogate markers No health outcome measured
- Human safety data beyond case reports Case reports of harm; no long-term data
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More on Melanotan II
Citations
- FDA: Certain bulk drug substances for use in compounding may present significant safety risks fda.gov
- Dorr 1996, Life Sci: Evaluation of melanotan-II in a pilot phase 1 clinical study pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 2008, Arch Dermatol: Melanotan-associated changes in melanocytic nevi doi.org
- 2009, Br J Dermatol: Melanotan II use and atypical naevi doi.org
- 2014, Dermatology: Melanoma associated with the use of melanotan-II pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Reference information only, not medical advice. Drawn from the Melanotan II article, fact-checked against the cited sources. No dosing anywhere on this site.