Melanocortin receptor peptides

Analogues characterised against the melanocortin receptor family.

Analogues characterised against the melanocortin receptor family. Unlike most categories in this library, this one is defined by a receptor family with several members — MC1R through MC5R — and selectivity between them is the property that distinguishes the compounds in it.

That makes one point structural rather than incidental. A molecule described as a melanocortin receptor agonist is not thereby described at all until the receptor subtypes are named, because the subtypes sit in different tissues. Entries in this category state the subtype profile where the published characterisation provides it, and say so where it does not.

Regulatory position varies within the group, and it varies by compound and indication rather than across the family. An approval held by one analogue in one indication says nothing about another.

Compounds listed below without a link do not yet have a published entry.

Compounds in this category

3 of 3 entries are published. Compounds without a published entry are listed without a link.

  • PT-141PT-141, developed under the International Nonproprietary Name bremelanotide, is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide that acts as a non-selective agonist at the melanocortin receptor family, with greatest relevance at MC1R and MC4R. A finished pharmaceutical product containing it is approved in the United States for one specific indication.
  • Melanotan IMelanotan I is afamelanotide, a synthetic analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone that activates the melanocortin 1 receptor. A controlled-release implant containing it is an approved medicine in the United States and the European Union for one rare light-sensitivity disorder; the approval is specific to that finished product.
  • Melanotan IIMelanotan II is a synthetic cyclic heptapeptide analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone and a non-selective melanocortin receptor agonist. It has never been approved in any jurisdiction, and its indexed human research record consists of four small studies published between 1996 and 2000.

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