Compound guide · Tier A
MT-1
Genuinely approved, on both sides of the Atlantic, as an implant for a rare light sensitivity disease. It is bought as an injectable tanning compound, which is neither the product nor the purpose.
The short answer
MT-1 is the compound where the approval is real and almost entirely beside the point. Afamelanotide earned authorisation in Europe in 2014 and in the United States in 2019 because it lets people with erythropoietic protoporphyria tolerate light without severe pain, which for that small group is genuinely life changing. That approval is for a controlled release implant placed under the skin by a clinician every couple of months, under specialist supervision. Buying lyophilised MT-1 powder to reconstitute and inject for a tan shares a molecule with that medicine and nothing else: not the formulation, not the route, not the release profile, not the indication, and not the monitoring. It is still the more defensible half of the melanotan pair, because MT-1 is MC1R selective and has an approval behind it, while melanotan II has neither.
At a glance
| Class | Selective melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) agonist |
| Developer | Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals |
| Sold as | Scenesse (afamelanotide) |
| Regulatory status | Approved, in a form almost nobody buying MT-1 is using. Afamelanotide was authorised by the EMA in 2014 and approved by the FDA on 8 October 2019, as Scenesse, a 16 mg controlled release subcutaneous implant for the prevention of phototoxicity in adults with erythropoietic protoporphyria. The approved product is an implant inserted by a trained clinician, not an injectable powder, and the indication is a rare inherited disease, not cosmetic tanning. |
| Compounding status | An approved afamelanotide product exists, in implant form, for a specific rare disease. Research grade MT-1 powder is neither that product nor that route of administration, and reconstituted injection is not how the approved medicine is given. |
| Anti-doping | Not specifically named on the prohibited list. Check the list as published each year if competing in tested sport. |
| Our evidence tier | Tier A. Approved medicine |
What it is
Afamelanotide is a synthetic analogue of alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone that selectively activates the melanocortin 1 receptor, driving eumelanin production in the skin. Selectivity is the important word. MT-1 acts largely at MC1R, the pigmentation receptor, while melanotan II acts across MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R, which is where its sexual and appetite effects and much of its adverse effect profile come from.
Who it is for, and who actually takes it
The approved population is adults with erythropoietic protoporphyria, an inherited disorder in which light exposure causes severe burning pain in the skin. The endpoint that earned approval was time spent in sunlight without pain.
It is bought as an injectable tanning agent by people with no photosensitivity disorder at all, in a formulation and by a route the approval does not cover, usually without any of the dermatological surveillance that accompanies the licensed product.
What the research shows
The registration endpoint was time spent in direct sunlight without pain, in a very small rare disease population. It is a meaningful endpoint and it does not reduce to a bar chart that would inform a general reader honestly.
Dosing
| Stage | Dose |
|---|---|
| Approved indication | Prevention of phototoxicity in adults with erythropoietic protoporphyria |
| Approved formulation | 16 mg controlled release implant |
| Route | Subcutaneous implant, inserted by a trained healthcare professional |
| Label interval | One implant approximately every two months during periods of light exposure |
| Regulators | EMA authorised 2014, FDA approved 8 October 2019 |
This records the approved product as published. Note carefully what it is not: it is not a reconstituted injection, not self administered, and not dosed by the milligram from a vial. A research powder cannot reproduce a controlled release implant, so the label schedule has no application to it whatsoever. We publish no reconstitution guidance.
What happens when you come off it
Pigmentation induced by MC1R activation fades after the implant is exhausted and is not permanent, which is why the approved schedule repeats through the season of light exposure. There is no withdrawal phenomenon described.
What it is being studied for
| Area | Stage of evidence |
|---|---|
| Erythropoietic protoporphyria, phototoxicity prevention | Approved, EMA and FDA |
| Other photodermatoses | Investigated, not approved |
| Vitiligo, alongside phototherapy | Studied, not an approved indication |
| Cosmetic tanning in healthy adults | Not an approved indication, not the studied population |
| Skin cancer prevention | Not established. Do not assume induced pigmentation is protective |
Note the last row particularly. Inducing eumelanin is not the same as demonstrating protection against skin cancer, that trial has not been done, and the assumption that a darker skin tone from a peptide confers the protection of natural pigmentation is not supported.
Common myths
Scenesse is approved, so injecting MT-1 for a tan is approved.
The approval covers a 16 mg controlled release implant placed by a clinician, for people with a rare inherited photosensitivity disease. Route, formulation, population and indication are all different when you reconstitute a powder for cosmetic tanning. Sharing a molecule is not sharing a licence.
MT-1 and MT-2 are basically the same thing.
They are not. MT-1 is MC1R selective and has approval in Europe and the United States. Melanotan II acts across several melanocortin receptors, has never been approved anywhere, and carries regulator warnings and melanoma case reports. If you are choosing between them on evidence, they are not close.
A peptide tan protects you from the sun.
That has not been established, and the assumption is risky. Any pigment change also makes moles and pigmented lesions harder to assess, which cuts against early detection rather than for it.
It is safe because it only affects pigmentation.
Selectivity is relative rather than absolute, and the licensed product is given under specialist supervision with skin monitoring precisely because MC1R agonism affects melanocytes. That surveillance is the part the research vial does not come with.
Verifying a purchase
MT-1 and MT-2 are close relatives and the price gap between them is small, so identity is the check that matters. Confirm the mass by mass spectrometry against afamelanotide specifically rather than accepting a generic melanotan label, and require the batch code on your vial to appear on the report. A vendor listing that treats MT-1 and MT-2 as interchangeable variants of one product is telling you something about how carefully it handles identity.
The general method is set out in our guide to reading a certificate of analysis, which covers the eleven checks that apply to any compound. The points above are the ones specific to MT-1.
Caveats and safety
The licensed product is dispensed through specialist centres with dermatological monitoring, which reflects the fact that MC1R agonists act on melanocytes and that patients on long term treatment need their skin watched. Nausea, headache and injection or implant site reactions appear in the label. Induced pigmentation also complicates the visual assessment of moles, and none of the surveillance built around the approved product exists around a vial of powder.
Where to get it
Where to get it
CertaPeptides Romania, EU. Volume discounts at 3+, 5+ and 10+ units.
| Vial | Price |
|---|---|
| 10 mg | €27.99 |
Stated purity. ≥98% stated batch specification, with selected lots independently tested.
Documentation. Selected lots independently tested by Janoshik Analytical (Czech Republic), HPLC plus mass spectrometry, reports searchable on the Janoshik public portal and at certapeptides.com/verify.
MT-1 is sold as laboratory research material. The vendor states it is not for human consumption and that it is not approved by the FDA, the EMA or any other regulator for use in humans or animals. Read the evidence tier at the top of this page before the price.
View MT-1 at CertaPeptidesAffiliate link. We earn a commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you. It does not change a word of the assessment above. Every product we have priced, in one list.
Sources
- Scenesse prescribing information, FDA
- Scenesse FDA approval history, Drugs.com
- European Medicines Agency medicine records
- Registered afamelanotide trials, ClinicalTrials.gov
Related compounds
Disclosure. PeptoPurity is an affiliate of CertaPeptides and earns a commission on qualifying purchases made through the vendor link on this page, at no additional cost to you. That relationship does not set the evidence tier, alter the verdict, or change a word of the assessment. Our Tier C and Tier D pages carry the same links as our Tier A pages, with the same conclusions we would publish if we earned nothing. Where the registered, prescribed route is the better option, we say so on the page that would otherwise pay us.
Scope. This is an evidence review, not medical advice. Where an approved label schedule is reproduced it is a record of what a regulator has published about a licensed medicine, not a recommendation and not a schedule for anyone to follow unsupervised. For unapproved compounds we report only the doses used in published studies, attributed to those studies, and we publish no protocols and no reconstitution guidance for any compound. Regulatory status differs between countries and changes over time. Material sold for laboratory research is not approved for human use. Decisions about treatment belong with a qualified prescriber.