MT 2 (Melanotan-II )

Melanotan 2 Tanning Injections (otherwise known as MT2) was first synthesized at the University of Arizona. Researches there knew that onc of the best defenses against skin cancer was melanin activated in the skin, a tan. They hypothesized that an effective way to reduce skin cancer rates in people would be to induce the body's natural pigmentary system to produce a protective tan prior to UV exposure.
The body's naturally occuring hormone MSH causes melanogenesis, a process by which the skin's pigment cells (melanocytes) produce the skin's pigment (melanin). They tested to see if administering this endogenous hormone to the body directly could be an effective method to cause sunless tanning. What they found was that while it appeared to work, natural MSH had too short a half life in the body to be practical as a therapeutic drug. So they decided to find a more potent and stable alternative, one that would be more practical.

After synthesizing and screening hundreds of molecules, the researchers headed by Victor J. Hruby and Mac E. Hadley, found a peptide, [Nle4, D-Phe7] MSH, that was approimately 1,000 times more potent than the natural MSH. They dubbed this new peptide molecule, "Melanotan" (later Melanotan-1, now know as afamelanotide). They subsequently developed another analog, Ac-Nle-cyclo[Asp-His-D-Phe-Arg-Trp-Lys]-NH2), which they called "Melanotan" Tanning Injections.