PT41- Where?

November 29, 2005 10:09 AM

Can I get a hold of PT41?

Is it possible? Where? How? I read about and I want it.

posted by anonymous to Society & Culture (20 answers total)

If it's in clinical trials, I suspect the chances of getting it are close to impossible. The compound is only being used in medical experiments, so unless the security of an experiment is breached, I'd say your chances are zip on getting a hold of it.

Personally, I'd rather wait until the third phase is done and side effects are at least known before I'd put it in my body.
posted by mathowie at 10:26 AM on November 29, 2005

Contact your local research chemicals drug dealer in probably about 8-10 months.
And yes, I'd imagine that everyone would want some. (God, this and ecstacy? Dawning of the age of aquarius, my friend).
posted by klangklangston at 10:37 AM on November 29, 2005

What's PT-41? I tried googling with not much luck. All wikipedia turns up is an entry on a torpedo boat.
posted by electroboy at 10:42 AM on November 29, 2005

It's PT-141, not 41. And it's U.S. patent number 6,794,489 if you know anything about solid-phase peptide synthesis ;)
posted by rkent at 10:49 AM on November 29, 2005

rkent writes "...if you know anything about solid-phase peptide synthesis"

How tricky is it to synthesize a cyclic peptide with solid-phase techniques?
posted by mr_roboto at 11:41 AM on November 29, 2005

Also, even if you have access to a peptide synthesizer, you probably won't have norleucine of D-phenylalanine on hand, so you'd have to get those somehow. Overall, I think it would be tough to get done on the sly as someone who only has access to a lab. On the other hand, if you want to buy your own synthesizer....
posted by mr_roboto at 11:45 AM on November 29, 2005

You might like to broaden your search (a little) and have a look here. Please do let us know what you find.
posted by grahamwell at 11:47 AM on November 29, 2005

Damn, If that's not a recreational drug, I don't know what is. "Clinical Trials" indeed.

The fact that it's just a protein is interesting, though Can you really just use one of those machines to synthesize it?
posted by delmoi at 12:02 PM on November 29, 2005

Seriously $5000? You know how much money can be made on this? I bet two weeks worth of batches would easily cover any costs and several Maseratis. There's an idea, and this isn't illegal yet (well, patent infringement). LSD is hard to make and people manage to synthesize it. Hmmm
posted by geoff. at 12:05 PM on November 29, 2005

geoff. writes "Seriously $5000?"

Your reagent costs are going to be high, too. You'd probably need at least $20,000 in seed capital to get started...
posted by mr_roboto at 12:11 PM on November 29, 2005

By reagent costs you mean precursor chemicals? If you're done I would gladly put $20,000 down for this. I'm sure in several years it will be scheduled but you know, people made money off MDMA before it was made illegal. With some hope the middle-classes will latch onto this enough that the FDA won't give it the dredded Schedule I. Plus you can't tell me there's some grad student out there right now in the lab trying to synthesize this, my God did you read the description? It sounds like they were taling about heroin. I've known a few chemist grad students and they synthesized anything they could.
posted by geoff. at 12:15 PM on November 29, 2005

Innnnteresting. Time to make friends with the chem department.
posted by lorrer at 12:20 PM on November 29, 2005

Well oddly enough PLEASE NOTE: We do not sell PT-141 and are unable to supply it. However, it will shortly be available via unlicensed sources over the Net --

Then after a little searching this Chinese distributor claims to be supplying PT-141 ... if that's the same compound. Looks like you have to buy in bulk and fairly sketchy, though you probably won't find a non-sketchy supplier of a patented drug.
posted by geoff. at 12:27 PM on November 29, 2005

There you go that's your go-to guy.

[phone]
PT-141(melanotan,alpha-MSH)
Packing: Aluminium or iron tin lined with plastic bag.

They also sell Viagra and other popular drugs, with the following disclaimer:

None of these products will be supplied to countries in which it could be in conflict with existing patents. However the final responsibility lies exclusively with the buyer.

From what I can tell, and from what I know about Chinese pharmaceuticals this is as legit as you'll get for now.

Keep in mind that even though it's in clinical trials the company most likely is trying to build up hype and its stock prices. If this drug really does what it says, great -- but I'm guessing it's probably not going to be the next club drug and there's some kind of catch.
posted by geoff. at 12:44 PM on November 29, 2005

That pt141.com site links into that whole weird tangle of the biopsychiatry.com web. I got stuck in there once a long time ago. There's a huge amount of self-referential stuff hosted on different domain names that are clearly all maintained by the same people.
posted by 5MeoCMP at 3:01 PM on November 29, 2005

Yeah I noticed that, but I still think the Chinese supplier is where you want to go if you *really* want it. I also don't think it'd be too hard to move it if you have to buy it in bulk.
posted by geoff. at 3:34 PM on November 29, 2005

Slightly off-topic, but I've never heard of this stuff before. I'm wondering if this would be a good company to invest it. It sounds like the McShiznit.
posted by Dag Maggot at 5:02 PM on November 29, 2005

Slightly off-topic, but I've never heard of this stuff before. I'm wondering if this would be a good company to invest it. It sounds like the McShiznit.

Yeah, but it won't be worth shit if the FDA puts it on Shedual-1 (along with Cocaine, Heroin, or Marijuana) or Shedual-2 (Oxycontin, Crystal Meth) since no one will prescribe it). That's probably what will happen if people start synthesizing it and selling it to ravers (which will probably happen)

That pt141.com site links into that whole weird tangle of the biopsychiatry.com web. I got stuck in there once a long time ago. There's a huge amount of self-referential stuff hosted on different domain names that are clearly all maintained by the same people.

Yeah, it's like some bizarre wikipedia of narcotics, interesting stuff, though.
posted by delmoi at 5:48 PM on November 29, 2005

USD 2800 per 1 gram vial. Steep.
posted by lorrer at 7:35 PM on November 29, 2005

The DEA schedules drugs, not the FDA. The DEA "consults" with the HHS secretary.

Biopsychiatry.com is part of the BLTC/HedWeb network. The list of complete sites is here (long page). The main guy, David Pearce, is a transhumanist, who has an idea about how to "abolish suffering". Entertaining reading, if nothing else.
posted by Gyan at 8:34 PM on November 29, 2005