❤️ Category
Sexual Health Peptides
Melanocortin-system peptides studied for libido and arousal, including one FDA-approved drug.
Melanocortin-system peptides studied for libido and arousal, including one FDA-approved drug.
Sexual-health peptides act mainly on two systems. The melanocortin system influences sexual desire in the brain — this is how PT-141 (bremelanotide), an FDA-approved drug for low sexual desire in women, works, distinct from blood-flow drugs like Viagra. The GnRH (gonadotropin) system controls the reproductive hormone cascade.
GnRH peptides illustrate a neat pharmacological paradox: given in pulses, gonadorelin stimulates sex hormones, but continuous leuprolide (a GnRH agonist) ultimately suppresses them, while cetrorelix (a GnRH antagonist) blocks them immediately — each property is used in different treatments, from IVF to prostate cancer. Kisspeptin, the master switch above GnRH, is an active research frontier for fertility and desire.
A melanocortin receptor agonist and, as bremelanotide (Vyleesi), an FDA-approved treatment for hypoactive sexual desire disorder in premenopausal women.
Read the guide →A synthetic melanocortin agonist researched for skin tanning and, secondarily, libido — but with notable safety concerns and no approval.
Read the guide →A neuropeptide that is a master regulator of reproductive hormones, studied for fertility disorders and, more recently, sexual and emotional brain processing.
Read the guide →Synthetic gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) that stimulates the pituitary to release LH and FSH — historically an approved agent for diagnosis and fertility, and used by some clinicians during testosterone therapy.
Read the guide →A natural hormone and neuropeptide central to bonding, birth, and lactation — FDA-approved for obstetric use (as Pitocin) and widely researched (often intranasally) for social and emotional behavior.
Read the guide →A GnRH agonist and widely used FDA-approved drug (Lupron) that, with continuous dosing, suppresses sex hormones — used in prostate cancer, endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and central precocious puberty.
Read the guide →A GnRH receptor antagonist and FDA-approved drug (Cetrotide) used during IVF to prevent a premature LH surge and early ovulation.
Read the guide →A GnRH agonist delivered as a long-acting subcutaneous implant (Zoladex), FDA-approved for prostate cancer, certain breast cancers, and endometriosis.
Read the guide →A GnRH agonist given as a depot injection (Trelstar, Decapeptyl), used for advanced prostate cancer, central precocious puberty, and endometriosis.
Read the guide →A GnRH agonist delivered as a nasal spray (Synarel), FDA-approved for endometriosis and central precocious puberty.
Read the guide →A GnRH antagonist (Firmagon), FDA-approved for advanced prostate cancer, that lowers testosterone rapidly without the initial flare seen with GnRH agonists.
Read the guide →A GnRH agonist delivered as a once-yearly subcutaneous implant, FDA-approved for central precocious puberty (Supprelin LA) and prostate cancer (Vantas).
Read the guide →A long-acting analog of oxytocin used to prevent postpartum hemorrhage after delivery; approved in many countries (and available as a heat-stable formulation), though not FDA-approved in the US.
Read the guide →The body's natural melanocortin hormone — central to skin pigmentation, inflammation, and appetite — and the biology that synthetic analogs like melanotan and bremelanotide (PT-141) are designed to imitate.
Read the guide →No. Viagra (sildenafil) is a PDE5 inhibitor that improves erectile blood flow, whereas PT-141 (bremelanotide) acts centrally on melanocortin receptors involved in sexual desire. PT-141 is FDA-approved (as Vyleesi) for low sexual desire in premenopausal women.
Delivery and mechanism differ. Pulsatile gonadorelin (a GnRH) stimulates hormone release; continuous leuprolide (a GnRH agonist) overstimulates and then desensitizes the receptors, suppressing hormones after an initial flare; cetrorelix (a GnRH antagonist) blocks the receptor directly with no flare.
PT-141 (bremelanotide/Vyleesi), leuprolide (Lupron), and cetrorelix (Cetrotide) are FDA-approved for their respective indications. Kisspeptin is investigational, and 'PT-141' sold as a research chemical is not the approved product.