Melanotan 1 is afamelanotide, [Nle4, D-Phe7]-alpha-MSH — a linear analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone with two substitutions conferring stability and potency (formula C78H111N21O19, average mass 1,646.8 g/mol, CAS 75921-69-6). Melanotan I is sold here for laboratory research in 1 size (10mg), from $40.00 a vial. It is not an FDA-approved medicine. Research use only, and never for people or animals.
Melanotan 1 specifications
| Product name | Melanotan I |
|---|---|
| Also sold as | Melanotan I, MT-1, Melanotan 1 peptide |
| Formula | C78H111N21O19 |
| Average mass | 1,646.8 g/mol |
| CAS number | 75921-69-6 |
| Physical form | Freeze-dried powder, a solid cake in a sealed vial |
| Appearance | White to off-white cake |
| Sizes on this page | 10mg |
| Purity specification | ≥99% by RP-HPLC. The number for the lot you receive is whatever its own certificate says. |
| Identity check | Mass spectrometry, read against the mass this compound should have |
| Net content | Weighed per lot and reported separately from purity |
| Lot documentation | Tested by Kovera Labs; each lot's certificate posts here when it is reported |
| Storage | Sealed, cold and out of the light |
| Ships from | Santa Ana, California by USPS with tracking on every order, same business day on verified in-stock orders placed before 12 PM Pacific |
| Intended use | Laboratory research only. Not for human or animal use. |
What is Melanotan 1, and what is it used for?
Melanotan 1 is also listed and searched as Melanotan I, MT-1, Melanotan 1 peptide. They all mean the same compound. Supplier lists write it as Melanotan 1 peptides or peptide Melanotan 1 as well; every one of those is this record. A name is not a test, which is why the lot record further down counts for more than the wording on a label.
Chemically: molecular formula C78H111N21O19, average mass 1646.8 g/mol (PubChem CID 16197727). Those figures are what the identity test on a certificate is read against.
Afamelanotide, [Nle4, D-Phe7]-alpha-MSH — a linear analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone with two substitutions conferring stability and potency.
Melanocortin receptor agonist with substantially greater selectivity for MC1R than melanotan II. MC1R activation on melanocytes shifts melanin synthesis toward eumelanin.
Erythropoietic protoporphyria, a photodermatosis. Approved as Scenesse — one of only a small number of compounds on this catalog with a marketing authorisation.
That a research vial under this name is equivalent to the licensed implant. The approved product is a controlled-release subcutaneous implant, which is a different pharmaceutical form entirely.
Melanotan 1 for sale: 10mg vials, price per mg
Melanotan 1 is sold in 1 size here, 10mg, from $40.00 a vial. Melanotan 1 cost and Melanotan 1 price per mg by size are in the table, at each volume tier and on subscription; the per-mg figure under each price is the one that compares across sizes.
Volume and subscription pricing by size
| Size | One vial | 10–19 vials−10% | 20 vials−15% | Subscribe monthly−6% from shipment 2 | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanotan 1 10mg | $40.00$4.00/mg | $36.00a vial · $3.60/mg | $34.00a vial · $3.40/mg | $37.60a vial, shipment 2 on · $3.76/mg | Backordered — waitlist |
Volume tiers are per size and do not combine across sizes (see bulk pricing). Subscribe & Save takes 6% every month, 4% every 2 months or 2% every 3 months off from shipment 2, two shipments minimum, and stacks on the volume tier: the lowest this record ever bills is $3.20 per mg, twenty 10mg vials on a monthly subscription from shipment 2 onward.
Nothing is added at checkout except the USPS shipping you choose; dispatch and delivery are the same on every order. The cost-per-milligram tool ranks the whole catalog by price per mg.
Where to buy Melanotan 1: what to check before you order from anyone
Where to get Melanotan 1, and how to buy Melanotan 1 online
Melanotan 1 for sale, or Melanotan 1 peptide for sale, means this page: one record, 1 size. You can buy Melanotan 1 online here with guest checkout; verified in-stock orders placed before 12 PM Pacific are dispatched the same day. If the question is where to get Melanotan 1 or how to get Melanotan 1, the answer for a US laboratory is a supplier who publishes the certificate before you pay, which is the first of the five checks that follow.
Before ordering Melanotan 1 from anyone, us included, run the 5 checks on verifying a certificate; the first is that the report resolves on the laboratory's own site, and a seller who cannot pass them is asking for the trust a certificate exists to replace.
Melanotan 1 nasal spray? What this vial is, and is not
Search results for Melanotan 1 also show nasal spray products, under listing titles such as melanotan 1 nasal spray, buy melanotan 1 nasal spray, melanotan 1 nasal, melanotan 1 nasal spray for sale, melanotan 1 peptide nasal spray, melanotan 1 spray. Those are finished consumer goods made and marketed by other companies, and none of them is what this page sells. This record is freeze-dried Melanotan 1 in a sealed glass vial, 10mg, with a lot certificate, supplied for laboratory work. Its certificate describes that powder, not a capsule, spray or cream, which carry other ingredients and sit under different rules.
Melanotan 1 vs Melanotan II: different molecules, separate records
Melanotan 1 vs Melanotan 2, or Melanotan 2 vs Melanotan 1, is the comparison people search most, and they are not the same thing. Each is a different molecule with a different formula, mass and research record, and each has its own certificate here.
Melanotan 2 vs Melanotan 1: the same comparison, side by side
| Record | Class | Formula | Avg. mass | Sizes here |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Melanotan I | Afamelanotide, [Nle4, D-Phe7]-alpha-MSH — a linear analogue of alpha-melanocyte-stimulating hormone with two substitutions conferring stability and potency. | C78H111N21O19 | 1646.8 | 10mg from $40.00 |
| Melanotan II | A man-made ring-shaped peptide seven building blocks long that switches on melanocortin receptors indiscriminately. | C50H69N15O9 | 1024.2 | 10mg from $35.00 |
Documentation compared in full: Melanotan 1 vs Melanotan 2, side by side.
The Melanotan 1 certificate: lot, purity, identity, and how to verify it
A certificate answers identity, purity and net content as three separate questions, each with the method that produced it and the date it was run, how to read one covers what each field does and does not cover. For Melanotan 1 that means a mass spectrum landing on 1,646.8 g/mol for C78H111N21O19, the figure published against PubChem CID 16197727.
Melanotan I certificates post here and in the certificate index when Kovera Labs reports on the lot.
Solution arithmetic for the bench, with no administration guidance: the vial concentration calculator, preset to Melanotan I.
Is Melanotan 1 a prescription drug? FDA status, and what this listing is
FDA status, and what this listing is Not an FDA-approved drug product
The FDA has not approved this compound for anything, and nothing in this catalog is a medicine.
Status verified 2026-08-25. Check the primary source before relying on this summary.
It is sold as laboratory material under the research-use restriction below. Being listed is not an approval, and not a claim that it is safe, effective or right for any purpose. LabFirst is not a pharmacy or a compounding facility, this vial is not a compounded medicine, and no prescription is involved, because it is not sold for use in anyone.
Melanotan 1 research: what the published studies examine
Status: No FDA-approved application. This compound is sold as laboratory material. Where research on it has been published, it sits at the animal, cell or early-human stage, and this record does not summarize what it found. A supplier is not a neutral judge of evidence about its own catalog.
Melanotan I, afamelanotide, is [Nle4, D-Phe7]-alpha-MSH — the native hormone with a norleucine substitution at position 4 and a D-phenylalanine at position 7, changes that confer resistance to degradation and increased potency while keeping the linear structure. The pharmacological distinction from melanotan II, also on this catalog, is the important one: melanotan II is a cyclic lactam and broadly non-selective across MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R, whereas afamelanotide is substantially more MC1R-directed.
Since MC1R is the receptor on melanocytes that shifts melanin synthesis toward eumelanin, and MC3R/MC4R are the central receptors responsible for melanotan II's appetite and sexual effects, the two compounds are not interchangeable despite the similar names. Afamelanotide is also, unusually for this catalog, an approved medicine, licensed on the basis of randomised placebo-controlled trials.
| Reported observation | Model | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Two multicentre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trials of subcutaneous implants containing 16 mg of afamelanotide in patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria — 74 patients in the European Union and 94 in the United States, randomised 1:1, with implants every 60 days over 180-day and 270-day study periods. The primary efficacy endpoint was hours of direct sunlight exposure without pain. Adverse events were mostly mild and serious adverse events were not thought to be related to the study drug. | two multicentre randomised double-blind placebo-controlled trials, 168 patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria | Langendonk and colleagues, Afamelanotide for erythropoietic protoporphyria, New England Journal of Medicine (2015)Cited for trial design, population and safety. Efficacy endpoints are not reproduced, consistent with the rest of this catalog. |
| Relevant to the melanocortin class generally: in a documented human case, synthetic alpha-MSH administration in a man with a history of melanoma and multiple dysplastic naevi was followed by crops of new pigmented naevi with atypical features, regressing after use stopped. The authors conclude synthetic alpha-MSH peptides can drive proliferation of neoplastic melanocytic cells in predisposed people. | human case report with histopathology | Cardones and Grichnik, alpha-Melanocyte-stimulating hormone-induced eruptive nevi, Archives of Dermatology (2009)A class-level melanocortin signal. It concerns synthetic alpha-MSH generally and is relevant to any MC1R agonist. |
Open questions. Afamelanotide has a genuine approval on genuine randomised evidence in a rare and severely disabling photodermatosis, which puts it in a small minority on this catalog. Three qualifications matter. The licensed product is a controlled-release subcutaneous implant, a pharmaceutical form with defined release kinetics, and a research vial of the peptide is not that product in any meaningful sense. The approved indication is narrow and the trial population was patients with erythropoietic protoporphyria, not people seeking pigmentation.
And the melanocortin class signal applies here as it does to melanotan II: synthetic alpha-MSH peptides can drive proliferation of melanocytic cells in predisposed individuals, which is a mechanism-consistent hazard for any MC1R agonist, even the one with a license.
Each row above describes an observation in the stated model. None of it describes what Melanotan I would do in a person or an animal outside that model, and none of it is a recommendation to use it for anything.
How to store Melanotan 1: refrigeration and shelf life
Keep the sealed vial cold and out of the light and it stays as it left the lab. Once it is mixed into a solution, how long it holds up depends on the compound, what it was mixed with, how strong the solution is and how cold it is kept — too many variables for anyone to print one shelf life on a label. So laboratories write the date on whatever they prepare and keep their own record of it.
For solution preparation arithmetic on the bench, concentration, per-graduation values and molarity, use the vial concentration calculator, which opens with the Melanotan I sizes stocked here already loaded. It covers laboratory measurement only and contains no administration guidance.
