Afamelanotide (Melanotan) skin pellets and sun protection
from cancerhelp.org]
Melanotan (Melanotan One) is also known as afamelanotide
Afamelanotide is being developed by an Australian company called Clinuvel. It is being developed as a skin implant and as an injection. Afamelanotide is a man made (synthetic) form of a naturally occurring hormone called alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone (a-MSH). This hormone stimulates cells called melanocytes. Melanocytes lie in the deeper layers of the outer layer of the skin (epidermis). These are the cells that become cancerous in melanoma.

Melanocytes make the pigment 'melanin' when the skin is exposed to sunlight. The melanin then moves into surrounding skin cells to help protect them against the sun's rays. Melanin makes fair skinned people tan in the sun. Melanocytes are more active in darker skinned people and make more melanin. So dark skinned people have more protection against skin cancer than fair skinned people.

Afamelanotide can produce darkening of the skin by stimulating the melanocytes to make more melanin. Although it can produce a tan in anyone white skinned, the aim of the development of afamelanotide is to produce a drug that can help to protect people particularly prone to skin damage and burning from exposure to the sun. The drug is not licensed yet in the UK or USA.

An Australian trial published in 2006 tested afamelanotide in 65 people. They found that people with the lowest natural melanin levels had the highest increase in their melanin levels (41%) after exposure to the drug. In this group, exposure to sunlight after having afamelanotide resulted in half as many epidermal sunburn cells. The people in this trial did not have the implant. Over 3 months, they had 3 courses of injections given just under the skin (subcutaneous injections). Each course lasted 10 days. The implant releases the drug into your system slowly over a few weeks. The implant pellet is the size of a grain of rice and is implanted just under the skin.

Possible medical uses for Melanotan
Medically this drug may be useful for people who are allergic to the sun or who are particularly at risk of sunburn because of their genetic make up. But using this drug in healthy people may not be a good thing. Generally, it isn't a good idea to take any drugs unless you need them for a medical condition. There could be unforeseen harmful side effects. Taking medicines to give yourself a tan also contradicts health promotion messages that are trying to persuade people that a tan is not good for you.

This drug is still in development and is not yet licensed. We won't know how successful it really is in preventing sunburn for some time. Equally, we can't know how safe it is until it has been in use for some time. There have been no major harmful effects in the trials that have been done. Side effects have included feeling sick and facial flushing. But the drug has not been around long enough for us to know if it does any lasting harm.