Melanotan I
Research highlights
- ✓Selective MC1R agonist — a narrower receptor profile than Melanotan II
- ✓Central to pigmentation-biology and photoprotection research
- ✓The peptide behind afamelanotide, studied clinically for light-sensitivity disorders
- ✓Research grade - independent lab report published where we hold one
Read Carl's plain-English guide: Melanotan I on Peptide Carl ›
How is Melanotan I different from Melanotan II?
Melanotan I is selective for the MC1R receptor — the one tied to pigmentation pathways. Melanotan II activates MC1R through MC5R, which is why its literature covers a far broader and messier range of effects. Researchers reach for MT-1 when they want the pigmentation pathway isolated rather than the whole melanocortin system engaged.
Why does it have a longer research record than most peptides?
Its clinical form, afamelanotide, has been studied for photoprotection in light-sensitivity disorders, so there is genuine published literature behind it rather than only anecdote.
How is it supplied?
Lyophilised powder in a sealed vial, 10mg. For laboratory research use only.
Melanotan I, explained
The short version: Melanotan I is a lab-made version of alpha-MSH, the hormone that tells skin cells to make melanin. Its pharmaceutical form, afamelanotide, is an approved medicine (Scenesse) for a rare light-sensitivity disorder, which makes it by far the best-studied of the melanotans.
What it is
Alpha-MSH (alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone) is a 13-amino-acid hormone that drives pigment production. Melanotan I keeps the same length but swaps two building blocks: norleucine replaces methionine at position 4, and the mirror-image D-phenylalanine replaces normal phenylalanine at position 7. As a drug, the same molecule is called afamelanotide. It is also fragile: a 2026 stability study found it broke down under every stress tested, including heat, UV light, acid, alkali and oxidation, yielding fourteen different degradation products.
What has been studied
Afamelanotide went through a full pharmaceutical programme. In 2019 the US FDA approved Scenesse, an afamelanotide implant, to increase pain-free light exposure in adults who have had phototoxic reactions from erythropoietic protoporphyria (EPP), a rare disorder in which light triggers painful phototoxic reactions.
A 2017 dermatology review described afamelanotide as the only alpha-MSH analogue then approved for medical use, and as thoroughly tested within those indications.
Where the evidence stops
The approval covers one licensed implant, made under pharmaceutical controls, for one rare disease. Powder sold as Melanotan I is not that product. The same review warned that unregulated melanotan I and II are linked in case reports to changes in existing moles and new atypical moles, and that four reports described melanoma arising in moles during or soon after melanotan use. A causal link has not been proven, but several national health agencies have issued warnings.
Handling and storage
It arrives as a freeze-dried powder. Once bacteriostatic water goes in, it belongs in the fridge. Our reconstitution and storage guide covers the details, and the calculator does the maths.
The one melanotan with a real approval behind it, for a rare disease, in a licensed form. Unregulated use is a different story.
Sources (checked 7 October 2026)
For research use only. Not for human consumption. Nothing on this page is medical advice.
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Tonia K. · 30 Sep 2026
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