Melanotan 1 10 mg lyophilised peptide vial with white cap and pink and blue label

NovaPep

Buy Melanotan 1 Australia: Melanotan 1 10mg Research Vial (Afamelanotide)

$49AUD, GST included

In stock in Australia, batch certificate ready

Size: 10 mg vial

Certificate of analysis published for every batch
Third-party HPLC purity and MS identity testing
Dispatched same day before 3pm cut-off, tracked Australia-wide
Research use only, sold to adults aged 18 and over

Buy Melanotan 1 online in Australia as a 10 mg research vial, tested for identity and purity on every lot. Melanotan 1 is afamelanotide, a linear 13 amino acid analogue of the pigment hormone alpha-MSH, supplied in Australia as a research reagent. Older literature calls it NDP-MSH, after the norleucine at position 4 and the D-phenylalanine at position 7 that make it far more durable than the native hormone. Its main target is the MC1R receptor on melanocytes, and labs use it to study cAMP signalling and the shift toward dark eumelanin. Identity figures are C78H111N21O19, 1646.9 g/mol and CAS 75921-69-6. Each lot is checked by HPLC for purity and by mass spectrometry, a result that tells it apart from Melanotan II at a glance. It comes as a single 10 mg lyophilised vial from local stock, and the matching certificate can be opened before you pay. The vial holds dry powder only, so pair it with bacteriostatic water and work out your strength with the peptide calculator. Store it sealed at -20 °C and away from light. Sales are restricted to research buyers aged 18 or older.

For laboratory research use only. Not for human or veterinary use. Not TGA approved. See the NovaPep research use policy.

What Is Melanotan 1?

Afamelanotide, sold here as Melanotan 1, is a synthetic and longer-lived version of alpha-MSH, the body's own signal that instructs skin pigment cells to make dark melanin. The chain stays at the full 13 residues in an unbroken line, and only two positions are altered. Those two edits are enough to make the analogue much more durable and considerably stronger than the native hormone. Buy Melanotan 1 online in Australia as a 10 mg research vial, with the lot certificate published before you order.

Native alpha-MSH falls apart in minutes, which makes it awkward to use in experiments. University of Arizona chemists retained all 13 residues yet replaced methionine at position 4 with norleucine and turned the phenylalanine at position 7 into its D isomer, giving an analogue that holds up against degradation and binds MC1R tightly. That selectivity relies on keeping the chain at full length. Shortening it into a ring, which is what Melanotan II does, broadens the set of receptors it hits, so Melanotan 1 is the usual choice when a melanocyte line expresses MC1R and nothing else.

How Melanotan 1 Works at the MC1R Receptor

A melanocyte can produce either of two melanin types. Pheomelanin ranges from red to yellow and gives relatively poor protection, whereas eumelanin is brown to black and soaks up ultraviolet light efficiently. MC1R largely decides which type a cell makes. Once alpha-MSH or one of its analogues occupies the receptor, cyclic AMP climbs, protein kinase A switches on the transcription factor MITF, and MITF boosts the melanin pathway enzymes, led by tyrosinase, so output tilts toward eumelanin. Human genetics makes the importance clear. Loss-of-function MC1R variants are common, account for most red hair and pale, freckled skin that burns instead of tanning, and raise melanoma risk in those who carry them.

There is more to it than colour. Studies in cultured human melanocytes, particularly those from the Cincinnati group led by Zalfa Abdel-Malek, tied MC1R activation to quicker repair of DNA damage caused by UV, and this repair did not rely on added melanin. Much of the interest in the melanotan 1 peptide as a photoprotection probe, and not merely a pigment reagent, comes from that finding.

Melanotan 1 Research: From Tucson to Clinical Studies

In 1980 Tomi Sawyer, Victor Hruby, Mac Hadley and their colleagues in Tucson, Arizona described the analogue in PNAS. Serum enzymes failed to degrade it, its potency in an adenylate cyclase assay was 26 times that of alpha-MSH, and its action persisted well beyond that of the parent hormone. Clinical teams have also looked at afamelanotide in vitiligo, not only protoporphyria. Lim and co-workers reported a randomised study in JAMA Dermatology in 2015 that set narrowband UVB alone against UVB combined with afamelanotide in 55 participants. At day 168 the combined arm showed roughly 49 percent repigmentation versus 33 percent for light on its own. To run this kind of in vitro work, buy Melanotan 1 online in Australia from lots tested by HPLC and mass spectrometry.

Afamelanotide later took an Australian turn when Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals, based in Melbourne, turned it into an implant approved abroad for erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare disorder of light sensitivity. NovaPep does not supply that medicine, and the vial on this page is the bare peptide offered as a research reagent. Labs apply it to MC1R activation, the cAMP signal that follows and the shift toward eumelanin in cultured melanocytes and in animal models. It is listed with our wider melanocortin peptides collection.

A practical point for any MC1R study is to confirm the MC1R status of your cells. Melanocyte and melanoma lines differ, and a line with loss-of-function variants will respond weakly or not at all, which says more about the cells than the peptide. Profile the receptor, and only then build the concentration curve. Our detailed comparison of Melanotan 1 and 2 covers how the cyclic analogues behave differently.

Afamelanotide as a Registered Medicine

Clinuvel's registered product is very different from a research vial. It is a 16 mg controlled-release afamelanotide implant built to deliver the peptide over roughly two months. It was approved under exceptional circumstances in the European Union in 2014, by the US FDA on 8 October 2019 and in Australia in October 2020. The TGA registered it then, after priority review, to prevent phototoxicity in adults living with erythropoietic protoporphyria.

In other words, Australia has one registered medicine containing the compound, in one dosage form, for one indication. Scenesse is prescribed and inserted beneath the skin by trained, accredited health professionals, and that registration in no way turns Melanotan 1 into a tanning product. Under the June 2026 Poisons Standard, which is the version in force in October 2026, afamelanotide is a Schedule 4 prescription-only substance. The index points Melanotan I to the same entry, so the scheduling applies whatever name appears on a label. Melanotan II is covered by a separate Schedule 4 entry of its own.

Melanotan 1 Specifications

Product name	Melanotan 1 (afamelanotide, NDP-MSH)
Fill	10 mg vial
Sequence	Ac-Ser-Tyr-Ser-Nle-Glu-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Gly-Lys-Pro-Val-NH2
Chain length	13 amino acids, linear
Formula	C78H111N21O19
Molecular weight	1646.9 g/mol
CAS	75921-69-6
Appearance	White lyophilised powder inside a sealed glass vial fitted with a white cap
Quality checks	HPLC for purity and mass spectrometry for identity, with a certificate issued per lot
In the box	One 10 mg vial of Melanotan 1, diluent purchased separately
Storage conditions	-20 °C sealed and kept from light, then 2 to 8 °C once in solution
Stock status	In stock
Intended use	In vitro laboratory research only

Each vial is white capped with a pink and blue label and holds 10 mg of the linear peptide as a dry white powder.

This vial suits melanocortin projects that call for MC1R selectivity rather than activation spread across the whole receptor family. Stock of the 10 mg fill sits in Australia, and every lot has its own published certificate.

Telling Melanotan 1 Apart by Mass

You cannot tell Melanotan 1 from Melanotan II by eye, because both are white powders, but their masses are very different. For this linear peptide the certificate should report a measured mass close to 1646.9 g/mol, well away from the roughly 1024 g/mol of cyclic Melanotan II. Tryptophan at position 9 oxidises more readily than any other residue, so a properly stored lot should show one clean main HPLC peak, and the mass data will flag oxidised tryptophan as a species 16 units above the parent.

Look up your lot's report in the COA library, and read our guide to reading a COA to make sense of the numbers.

Handling and Storage of Melanotan 1

Let the vial warm to room temperature, run the diluent gently down the inside of the glass and swirl until the cake has gone into solution. One millilitre produces 10 mg/mL, while 2 mL produces 5 mg/mL. Since the peptide is readily water soluble, hard shaking is never necessary, and for any other strength the peptide calculator handles the maths. When you buy Melanotan 1 online in Australia, orders paid by 3pm on a business day are dispatched the same afternoon.

Keep the unopened vial at -20 °C and out of light to guard the tryptophan residue. Once reconstituted, split the solution into aliquots, hold them at 2 to 8 °C and finish them within 28 days. Our peptide storage guide sets out why repeated warming and cooling reduces shelf life.

Melanotan 1 Compared With Melanotan II

Melanotan 1 suits a selective design, acting chiefly through MC1R while mostly sparing the central receptors. Melanotan II suits a broad design, as a cyclic agonist of MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R that can serve as a positive control across the whole family.

Testing the pair under identical conditions reveals which responses belong to MC1R and which require the larger receptor set. Both are supplied as 10 mg vials, so a two-compound study is straightforward to plan. For a structural comparison see the Melanotan 1 vs 2 guide, and consider PT-141, a related cyclic peptide researched mostly at central receptors.

Other Names for Melanotan 1

You may see this peptide called Melanotan 1, Melanotan I, MT-1, MT1, afamelanotide or NDP-MSH, which abbreviates [Nle4, D-Phe7]-alpha-MSH, and papers from the 1980s frequently refer to the Nle-D-Phe analogue. Scenesse is the trade name of the registered implant, a medicine that is separate from this product.

Related receptor vocabulary includes melanocortin 1 receptor, MC1R, alpha-melanocyte stimulating hormone, eumelanin and pheomelanin. These terms describe the biology being studied, and CAS 75921-69-6 pins down the one compound that sits behind all of these labels.

Buy Melanotan 1 Online in Australia

Put together, this shapes the supply picture. The implant is the sole registered clinical form, yet bench researchers working on MC1R in melanocyte culture need weighed milligram quantities of powder, something an implant cannot deliver. Research suppliers cover that need. If your lab wants to buy Melanotan 1 in Australia for such work, the 10 mg vial is held in NovaPep's local stock. We release it only to adults aged 18 or over, strictly for in vitro laboratory use and never for human or veterinary purposes. Teams studying pigmentation can also look through the skin and hair research peptides range for related compounds.

There is just one size, a 10 mg vial, and it is good value per milligram. With a molar mass of 1646.9 g/mol, 10 mg is roughly 6.1 micromoles, plenty for receptor binding curves plus a series of melanocyte cultures finished inside 28 days of reconstitution.

Where stock permits, purchase every vial a larger project will use in one go so the whole study runs on one lot and one certificate. That also makes it easier to line your data up against published binding figures, since each curve links back to a single report. Checkout includes a declaration that you are 18 or older, and the vial is sold for laboratory research and nothing else.

Searching to buy Melanotan 1 near me? NovaPep has no storefront or pickup desk. You order Melanotan 1 online and it travels from Australian stock by tracked delivery to every state and territory, and orders received before 3pm on a business day are sent the same day.

Melanotan 1 at a Glance

Longer-lasting alpha-MSH

Melanotan 1 mirrors the 13 amino acid pigment hormone alpha-MSH, with two positions altered so it survives much longer in laboratory conditions.

Buy the 10 mg vial online

Each sealed 10 mg vial holds white powder alone. Add bacteriostatic water to your order for reconstitution.

An MC1R research tool

Researchers apply it to melanocyte cultures and animal models to examine MC1R signalling and melanin output, strictly as a lab reagent.

More selective than Melanotan II

Melanotan II is a shorter cyclic peptide that switches on four melanocortin receptors, while Melanotan 1 works mostly through one.

Freeze and keep dark

Hold the sealed vial at -20 °C away from light. After mixing, refrigerate in aliquots and use everything within 28 days.

Confirmed by mass

Every lot is checked by mass spectrometry for the 1646.9 g/mol peptide and by HPLC for purity, and the certificate sits in the COA library.

Melanotan 1 FAQ

What is Melanotan 1 and how does it work?

Melanotan 1 is afamelanotide, a linear 13 residue analogue of alpha-MSH with norleucine at position 4 and D-phenylalanine at position 7. It binds the melanocortin 1 receptor on melanocytes, raising cAMP and tilting melanin output toward eumelanin in laboratory models.

Can I buy Melanotan 1 near me in Australia?

You can buy it through the NovaPep online store. Put the 10 mg vial in your cart and complete checkout, and it is dispatched on the same day when the order arrives before 3pm on a business day. Parcels go by tracked post to all states and territories, as there is no retail shop or collection point.

Is a certificate of analysis supplied with Melanotan 1?

Yes. Every lot goes through HPLC for purity and mass spectrometry, which should show a value close to 1646.9 g/mol and so excludes any confusion with Melanotan II. You will find the certificate in the COA library under the lot code printed on your vial, and it can be reviewed before you buy.

Which should I buy, Melanotan 1 or Melanotan II?

Choose Melanotan 1, a linear 13 residue peptide, for selective work at MC1R. Choose Melanotan II, a cyclic seven residue peptide, when you want broad activation of MC1R, MC3R, MC4R and MC5R. Ordering both allows you to distinguish MC1R responses from those that rely on the broader receptor family.

Is this Melanotan 1 the same thing as the afamelanotide implant?

The peptide sequence is shared, but the products differ. The registered implant is a medicine and NovaPep does not sell it. What we supply is a lyophilised research reagent intended for in vitro laboratory work, sold only to adults 18 and over and not for human or veterinary use.

How should Melanotan 1 be stored?

Keep the sealed vial at -20 °C and away from light to protect the tryptophan residue. After reconstitution, split the solution into aliquots, hold them at 2 to 8 °C and use them within 28 days. Repeated warming and cooling shortens shelf life.