Setmelanotide
FDA approved
Digestion and weight
Digestion and weightHow it works
Switches on MC4R, the brain's fullness receptor, in rare obesity where the signal upstream is broken. Side effect: darker skin.
What it's made of
8 amino acids in a ring, copied from alpha-MSH, the hormone that curbs hunger in the hypothalamus through the MC4 receptor.
What it's for
- Prescribed for
- Obesity from genetic POMC, PCSK1 or LEPR deficiency and Bardet-Biedl syndrome, from age 2; acquired hypothalamic obesity, from age 4. Not for common obesity.
Educational satire, not medical advice.