Is Melanotan I legal in Canada?

An FDA-approved drug that darkens the skin to protect people with a rare condition that makes sunlight painful.

Melanotan I, also called afamelanotide, was approved by the FDA in 2019 as Scenesse. It is a small implant.

How it works: It switches on the melanocortin-1 receptor in the skin. That makes skin cells produce more eumelanin, the dark pigment that shields skin from light.

Approval history: FDA-approved (Scenesse) for erythropoietic protoporphyria, a rare disease that makes sunlight painful on the skin

Allows a drug to be sold by issuing a Notice of Compliance and a Drug Identification Number (DIN). A compound that is not allowed for sale cannot legally be sold for use in people. Bringing in prescription drugs for your own use is also limited.

The legal category above is how The Longevity Archive reads Health Canada, Health Products and Food Branch listings for Melanotan I on the reviewed date. It is not a legal opinion. Rules change. Bringing a compound into the country, prescribing it and owning it can each be treated differently. Check with the agency before you act on anything here.

Check Health Canada directly

Whether Melanotan I is banned in sport is set by the World Anti-Doping Code and by military rules, not by its legal status in Canada. Before you compete or get tested, look up Melanotan I by name on the Prohibited List, or look up a named product in Global DRO. Under the World Anti-Doping Code, category S0 bans, at all times, any drug-like substance that meets two tests. No other section of the List covers it. And no government health regulator anywhere has a current approval for it as a treatment in people. Many substances that are approved somewhere are banned by name in another section. So approval does not mean a substance is allowed in sport.

• WADA Prohibited List
• Global DRO (check a named product)
• USADA (US athletes)
• Operation Supplement Safety (US service members)

The rules you compete or serve under decide this, not this page.