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Melanotan II
No — it is not a legal tanning product or supplement anywhere. It was a 1990s drug-development candidate shelved for safety reasons, and the version sold online today carries a real, published record of melanoma and rhabdomyolysis case reports.
In brief
Should you care? Yes — this is one of the few compounds on this site with a directly documented pattern of real harm, not just an absence of evidence.The short version
- Never approved anywhere as a medicine, at any dose, for any use.
- Reclassified to Schedule 9 in Australia in February 2026 — the same schedule as MDMA and heroin.
- Real published case reports link it to melanoma and to a serious systemic toxicity/rhabdomyolysis episode.
What it is
Melanotan II is a synthetic, non-selective melanocortin receptor agonist, developed at the University of Arizona in the 1990s as a tanning and erectile-dysfunction candidate. Development shifted to a more selective, narrower-acting relative of it — bremelanotide, the compound that eventually reached approval as PT-141 (Vyleesi) — while melanotan II itself was never taken through an approved clinical program.
What the evidence actually shows
No completed, approved efficacy or safety program exists for melanotan II at any regulator. What exists instead is a real, published safety record: a case of melanoma emerging in a melanotan II user (Hjuler & Lorentzen, Dermatology 2014;228(1):34-36, PMID 24355990) — a 20-year-old woman who developed cutaneous melanoma roughly three months after a 3-4 week course of self-injected melanotan II combined with sunbed tanning. Separately, a case of systemic toxicity and rhabdomyolysis was reported after a single 6mg injection — six times a typical starting dose — with markedly elevated creatine kinase and kidney involvement requiring hospitalization (Nelson, Bryant & Aks, Clin Toxicol 2012;50(10):1169-1173).
Legal status
Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration reclassified melanotan to Schedule 9 (prohibited substance) in February 2026 — the same schedule as MDMA and heroin — and has pursued enforcement action against sellers, including 27 infringement notices issued to one individual. It is not approved in the US, UK or EU under any name, and there are no melanotan II products on Australia's Register of Therapeutic Goods.
Not the same molecule as the one that got approved
Melanotan II is often confused with bremelanotide (PT-141), which did complete a real clinical program and reach approval — for one narrow indication. Melanotan II's own development was shelved, not completed. See PT-141's page for what actually did get approved, and for what.
Safety red flags
Beyond the two case reports above, product testing carried out as part of an Australian regulatory review found melanotan II products sold online were inconsistently dosed — meaning buyers frequently do not actually know how much they are injecting, on top of everything else about the compound's unapproved status.
References
- Hjuler & Lorentzen, "Melanoma Associated with the Use of Melanotan-II," Dermatology 2014;228(1):34-36, PMID 24355990.
- Nelson, Bryant & Aks, "Melanotan II Injection Resulting in Systemic Toxicity and Rhabdomyolysis," Clin Toxicol 2012;50(10):1169-1173.
- Therapeutic Goods Administration (Australia), "Individual issued 27 infringement notices for allegedly supplying Melanotan II," media release; TGA safety alert on melanotan-II tanning peptide products, tga.gov.au.