PT-141
- Libido & sexual health
- Fat loss & metabolism
FDA-approved for low sexual desire in premenopausal women — only the second medicine ever approved for it, and it works on desire in the brain rather than on blood flow.
Read the published research →What PT-141 does
PT-141, generic name bremelanotide, activates melanocortin receptors in the hypothalamus, which is what separates it from sildenafil and the rest of the PDE5 class: it acts on desire, not on blood flow. In two 24-week phase 3 trials in 1,202 premenopausal women with low sexual desire, it improved the Female Sexual Function Index desire score by 0.30 and 0.42 points more than placebo and cut desire-related distress by 0.37 and 0.29 points more than placebo. The earlier male work measured erections directly: in men who got an adequate erection on sildenafil no more than half the time, subcutaneous PT-141 produced significantly greater RigiScan responses than placebo, and in 19 men a subtherapeutic nasal combination outperformed the same subtherapeutic amount of sildenafil on its own. Side effects are the cost: nausea in 40.0% against 1.3% on placebo, flushing in 20.3% against 1.3%, headache in 11.3% against 1.9%, odds of stopping for side effects about twelve times those on placebo, and focal skin darkening in more than a third of subjects who received up to 16 doses on consecutive days.
- Low sexual desire in premenopausal women
- Arousal that starts in the brain, not blood flow
- Erectile response when a PDE5 inhibitor underdelivers
- Distress and frustration around low desire
- Combination with PDE5 inhibitors in men
- Appetite and body weight as a secondary signal
Common areas of interest, not measured results. The findings below are the published data.
In two 24-week phase 3 randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in premenopausal women with hypoactive sexual desire disorder (RECONNECT; 1,202 analysed), bremelanotide 1.75 mg improved the Female Sexual Function Index desire domain by 0.30 points more than placebo in study 301 and 0.42 in study 302, and reduced desire-related distress on Female Sexual Distress Scale item 13 by 0.37 and 0.29 points more than placebo respectively (all P less than or equal to .005).11
In the uncontrolled 52-week open-label extension of RECONNECT, 684 of 856 eligible women enrolled and 272 completed. Female Sexual Function Index desire rose 1.25-1.30 points from baseline in women who had received bremelanotide during the double-blind phase and 0.70-0.77 points in those who had received placebo, with distress falling 1.4-1.7 and 0.9 points; these are within-group changes, not placebo-controlled differences.13
In healthy men given subcutaneous PT-141 across 0.3-10 mg arms without visual sexual stimulation, RigiScan-measured erectile responses were statistically significant above 1.0 mg; in men with erectile dysfunction who reported an adequate erection on 100 mg sildenafil no more than half the time, the 4 mg and 6 mg arms both produced statistically significant responses versus placebo in a crossover design with visual sexual stimulation.2
For laboratory research use only. Not a drug, food, or cosmetic. Not for human or veterinary use, ingestion, or any form of consumption. Sold exclusively to qualified researchers.
