FDA and their view on Melanotan

Melanotan II has a lot of benefits, but for some reason the FDA still won’t put it on the market in the USA, because it causes skin cancer they say. Yes, the drug that is being used to prevent skin cancer in Europe is banned in the USA because, from their research perspective, it causes cancer. Which is somewhat confusing until you understand the bigger picture. Spoiler alert, the FDA are researching it as a drug for erectile dysfunction.

My only guess is that the FDA figured out that Melanotan II also causes erections and then switched the focus of the research over to this goal. I say this because quite a couple of sources seem to agree that Melanotan was developed in Arizona, to prevent skin cancer. So why do they now claim it causes skin cancer? Especially when Europeans are consuming it by the bucket-load! The answer may actually be in the human sciences instead of the medical sciences, but here’s some biological science to explain Melanotan and its cancer fighting properties.

Sunrays can be devided into three types. UVC light bounces off the atmosphere or gets absorbed by it, so the only place you’ll find it here on earth is in germicidal lamps (it has germicidal properties). Next up is UVB, this type of ultra violet light crates the ozone layer (along with UVC) and is also absorbed by the atmosphere, BUT it also penetrates to the earth’s surface, where it helps create vitamin D in human skin and mammalian fur. The kicker is, it causes the most DNA damage to skin and can cause it to burn if it is exposed for long enough. UVA is the final type, this one is the one that is responsible for the skin cancer through direct pathways, such as reactive oxygen species and free radicals.

To combat the effects of the UV light present in direct sunlight the human skin has followed a slow process of adaption over time. Evolution is responsible for tanning, yes. It works like this, the skin has melanocytes, which combat the negative effects of the UV light by producing melanin, which darkens the skin and literally shields it from the sun, almost as if it is allergic. Over a very long time, the natural amount of melanocytes increased in the skin of people living in sunnier climates, in order to protect them better. Now, in order to create enough vitamin D through the absorption of sunlight the skin of those people living in cloudier places, such as Europe, had to adapt by producing less melanocytes. In both cases the evolution of the species was the healthier option.

These days however, traditional Europeans don’t STAY in Europe. They live and travel to sunnier places, which is why Melanotan II was developed in Arizona in 1996 in the first place. The idea was to create a drug that would allow people to produce more melanin in their skin by artificially stimulating the melanocytes, thereby protecting them from the damaging UVA and UVB rays that can cause skin cancer. But then two things happened. They realised that the increased melanocytes did not protect the person from getting melanomas, or skin cancer, if they were already predisposed to dark spots or moles. And, they found out that the version they made in order to increase the effects of the first version, Alpha Melanocyte, caused an erection in males about five hours after injection.

So what did the money hungry pharm companies do in the country that made “warning contents are hot” labels on cups of coffee a prerecuisite? They decided to stop further research as a preventative for skin cancer, because half the people would obviously not understand that if they have moles the Melanotan won’t actually make them invincible to the sun. No, instead of educating users on the proper measures that should be taken whilst tanning, like using sunblock, staying out of the sun at certain times of the day, etc. They decide that the people would much rather pay much more for Melanotan II to be researched further, so that they can make millions out of the sex industry.

I have no idea why they don’t just market it as an erectile stimulant and warn people that the possible side effect may be skin cancer and include a leaflet of proper sunbathing.
I don’t know if that’s even ethical, but they’d make a huge trade out of those that don’t read the leaflet too…
All I’m saying is it makes a whole lot of sense to put something on the market if it prevents cancer. How people use it is up to them. Plus, if it really was a money thing, and drugs that give you erections make more money, haven’t the legal drug lords in the USA already lost a fair amount of money due to the fact that they are still researching this? Are they honestly so concerned with how uneducated their countrymen are? So, as I said at the start, the logic of exactly why they have not legalized Melanotan II in the USA has not become clear to me. I definitely think the answer is somewhere in a cultural problem, more than a blatantly economic one. Or maybe they just care about those that can’t think for themselves a bit too much.