Independent · non-commercial · publishes on a quarterly cycle|Current cycle 2026 Q3
Compound Evidence InstituteEvidence synthesis · established 2023Graded assessments of compounds, trials, methods and supply
Document set current to 30 July 2026
Indication assessment · §2

Hypoactive sexual desire and erectile dysfunction — evidence across compounds

Every compound the Institute assesses in hypoactive sexual desire and erectile dysfunction, with its certainty rating.

Document identifier
CEI-IN-25/2
Series
Indication assessment
Version
1.1
Published
31 Aug 2025
Last reviewed
31 Aug 2025
Next review
31 Aug 2027
Identifier
10.71829/cei.ind.25
Certainty
Not rated
Cycle
2025 Q3
ICD-11
HA00
Category
Neuropsychiatric

§2Evidence across compounds

Every compound the Institute assesses in this indication, with the effect as recorded, the certainty rating and the contributing trials. Effects are reported on the anchor outcome where the contributing trials measured it and on the outcome the trial actually reported where they did not.

Table 1. Compounds assessed in hypoactive sexual desire and erectile dysfunction, ordered by certainty.

CompoundEffect as recordedInterval as reportedCertaintyTrials
PT-141 (bremelanotide)Melanocortin receptor agonist (cyclic heptapeptide)Change in Female Sexual Function Index desire domain of +0.30 versus +0.06 with placebo, and improvement in the Female Sexual Distress Scale item 13 of −0.73 versus −0.41FSFI-D difference 0.24 (95 % CI 0.14 to 0.34); FSDS-DAO 13 difference −0.32 (95 % CI −0.44 to −0.20)Moderate2
Kisspeptin-10Endogenous decapeptide, KISS1 receptor agonistSmall randomised crossover studies in men with hypoactive sexual desire reported changes in limbic activation on functional imaging and in behavioural measuresvery small samples; imaging surrogate endpointsLow1
Melanotan-IINon-selective melanocortin receptor agonist (cyclic…No adequately powered randomised trial identified for this compoundVery low0
Estimates in this table are not on a common scale and must not be subtracted from one another. Where a comparison between two compounds has been made directly, it appears in a synthesis and not here.
Compounds assessed in Sexual dysfunctionPoint estimates with confidence intervals for each contributing study, plotted against the line of no effect.0.00.20.40.60.81.0Standardised direction and relative magnitudeCompoundEffect as recordedPT-141 (bremelanotide)Moderate certaintyChange in Female Sexual Function…Kisspeptin-10Low certaintySmall randomised crossover…Melanotan-IIVery low certaintyNo adequately powered randomised…
Moderate or high certaintyLow or very low certainty
Figure 1. Illustrative. Compounds assessed in this indication, plotted on a common standardised axis so that direction and relative magnitude can be compared at a glance. The estimates are not on a common natural scale and the intervals are the Institute's standardised representation of the reported precision rather than published confidence intervals.

§2.1Syntheses bearing on this indication

References cited on this page

References are numbered in order of first citation in this document. Each superscript in the text links to its entry below.

  1. Clayton AH, Althof SE, Kingsberg S, DeRogatis LR, Kroll R, Goldstein I, Kaminetsky J, Spana C, Lucas J, Jordan R, Portman DJ. Bremelanotide for female sexual dysfunctions in premenopausal women: a randomized, placebo-controlled dose-finding trial. Women’s Health 2016;12(3):325–337. doi:10.2217/whe-2016-0018 · PMID 27638896
  2. D’Hondt M, Bracke N, Taevernier L, Gevaert B, Verbeke F, Wynendaele E, De Spiegeleer B. Related impurities in peptide medicines. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 2014;101:2–30. doi:10.1016/j.jpba.2014.06.012 · PMID 25044089

Identifiers are reproduced only where the Institute holds them. Where a digital object identifier or PubMed identifier is not shown, the Institute has recorded the journal and year and has not constructed an identifier.

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