Side by side
Afamelanotide vs GHK-Cu
Both are discussed for skin & hair. What this site records about each, side by side. Every figure is on the compound's own page with the source it came from.
| Afamelanotide | GHK-Cu | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The approved member of the melanotan family. Same idea as melanotan II, taken through a full regulatory process, and the contrast between them is instructive. | A naturally occurring copper-binding tripeptide with a long history in topical skincare research. Injected use is not what the research studied. |
| EvidenceHow much human evidence exists, not how well it works. | Approved | Preclinical |
| Regulatory statusReviewed 2026-08-16 | Approved by the FDA (2019) and the EMA (2014) as Scenesse, a 16 mg subcutaneous implant for erythropoietic protoporphyria, inserted by a trained clinician every two months. Not approved for cosmetic tanning anywhere. Injectable powder sold as melanotan 1 is a research chemical — not the approved product — and does not share its delivery method, purity controls or supervision. | Permitted as a topical cosmetic ingredient in the United States and widely sold as such. Not approved as an injectable medicine, and injectable material is a research chemical with no manufacturing standard behind it. |
| Routes | Subcutaneous | Subcutaneous, Topical |
| Half-life | 24 hours | 1 hours |
| Cheapest per mgVials only, read from vendors' own listings and dated on the price index. | $1.76/mg | $0.28/mg |
| Median per mg | $3.80/mg | $0.60/mg |
| Vendors with a price | 23 | 63 |
| Storage once mixed | Refrigerated at 2–8 °C. Do not freeze once mixed. | Refrigerated at 2–8 °C. The solution is characteristically blue; that colour is expected and is not a fault. |
Compare two other compounds · The full price index
This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on BioAlmanac is medical advice. Nothing here ranks these two against each other. A table can show that one has more human evidence behind it or costs less per milligram; neither of those is a recommendation, and the right comparison for any person is one their doctor makes with them.