Peptides for libido and hormones
Compounds affecting libido, fertility, and sex hormones.
One compound in this group has an approved product behind it. Bremelanotide, sold as PT-141, cleared the FDA for low sexual desire in premenopausal women, which means there are dose-finding studies, a known side effect profile, and a label. Nothing else on this page has that.
The rest divide by where they act. Melanocortin compounds work in the brain on desire itself. Kisspeptin and the gonadotropin analogs act further upstream, on the signaling chain that ends in testosterone or estrogen, so their effects show up on a hormone panel rather than as an immediate sensation.
That upstream position is the reason to be careful here. Anything that moves the hormonal axis can also move fertility, mood and menstrual timing, and those changes take weeks to appear and weeks to unwind.
For the one approved compound, what the approval trials actually showed is narrower than the marketing suggests: a desire score moved modestly, and the one study that measured physical arousal directly found no change.
Raises sexual desire through brain signaling, not blood flow. Approved for low libido in women.
Sits at the top of the reproductive hormone chain and switches on your body's own sex-hormone production.
The 'bonding hormone', used as a nasal spray or tablet for connection and mood. Effects are subtle and short-lived.
Mimics the signal telling the testicles to make testosterone and sperm. Used with testosterone therapy or for fertility.
A 4-amino-acid Khavinson peptide sold for testosterone with age, with very little human research.
A 4-amino-acid Khavinson peptide sold for prostate support in older men, with very little human research.
Prompts your own testosterone and fertility hormones. It clears fast, so it needs frequent dosing.
Stops the brain seeing estrogen, so it tells the testicles to make more testosterone. One of clomiphene's two isomers.
Supplies FSH and LH, the two hormones that drive egg and sperm production. Used in fertility treatment.
A copy of the brain signal that controls sex hormones. An approved medicine, sold in the US as Trelstar and Triptodur.
Blocks estrogen in breast tissue. Used against breast cancer and against breast tissue growth in men.
Stops the body making estrogen in the first place, so levels fall. It does not block the receptor.
Blocks estrogen feedback in the brain. That triggers ovulation in women and raises testosterone in men.
Shuts down estrogen production more completely than anastrozole does.
The brain's signal to the thyroid chain. Its approved form was a single test injection, now discontinued.
Tells the pituitary to stop releasing prolactin. Approved for disorders of high prolactin.
A close relative of tamoxifen for breast cancer. It also stretches out the heart's electrical cycle.
The body's own blood-pressure hormone, given by drip in intensive care to raise blood pressure in septic shock.
An oxytocin blocker used in Europe to delay premature labor for up to 48 hours. Never approved in the US.
A long-acting oxytocin given once after birth to prevent heavy bleeding. Heat-stable, on the WHO essential list, not approved in the US.
Used during IVF to block the signal that triggers ovulation, so eggs can be collected on schedule.
Drops testosterone immediately in advanced prostate cancer, without the surge the older drugs cause first.
A modified vasopressin that tells the kidneys to hold on to water. It also treats bleeding disorders.
EndoCyclic's non-hormonal peptide for endometriosis, cleared for a first human trial in March 2026.
A daily IVF injection that keeps eggs from being released before collection; in 1999 it became the first GnRH antagonist the FDA approved.
The same hormone shutdown as leuprolide, delivered as a pellet under the skin that dissolves over weeks.
A once-yearly arm implant that pauses early puberty in children by switching off the pituitary signal to the ovaries or testes.
Octreotide's longer-acting cousin: a somatostatin copy given as a monthly depot for acromegaly and neuroendocrine tumors.
Floods the switch that controls sex hormones until it stops responding, shutting hormone production down.
A somatostatin-like peptide carrying radioactive lutetium-177 into neuroendocrine tumors, approved since 2017 in Europe and 2018 in the US.
A modified GnRH sprayed into the nose that shuts down sex hormone production, approved in the US for endometriosis and early puberty in children.
An FDA-approved somatostatin copy that shuts down growth hormone, used for acromegaly and hormone-secreting tumors.
The third approved somatostatin analog: it hits more receptor types than octreotide or lanreotide, and raises blood sugar in most users.
A name sold next to PT-141. No published source describes a distinct compound called PT-142.
Lutathera's peptide carrying actinium-225 instead of lutetium; its phase 3 beat standard care in tumors that regrew after lutetium.
An FDA-approved vasopressin prodrug for a kidney failure that strikes people with advanced liver disease.
The body's own water-holding hormone, given by drip in intensive care to raise blood pressure in shock when fluids and other drugs are not enough.
Both are sold for sex. One works on desire and is FDA approved, the other works on hormones and stops working within two weeks.
Three sit on one hormone chain and the fourth skips it. The one with the best trial evidence was rejected by the FDA in 2015 and abandoned.
Common questions
Which sexual health peptides are FDA approved?
Bremelanotide (PT-141) is approved for hypoactive sexual desire disorder in premenopausal women. Most other compounds on this page are not approved for any sexual indication.
Do these peptides raise testosterone?
Some act on the hormonal axis upstream of testosterone, such as kisspeptin and gonadotropin analogs. Effects vary widely and are not equivalent to prescribed testosterone therapy.
What side effects are most common?
Nausea and flushing are the most reported for melanocortin compounds. Anything acting on the hormonal axis can change mood, fertility and hormone panels.