Transdermal Effects of a Synthetic α-Melantropin/Corticotropin6-9 Analog in Multiple Sclerosis

To the Editor. —The use of corticotropin is well accepted in the symptomatic treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). As far as we know, however, the effects of corticotropin fragments have never been investigated in MS. We, therefore, tested the clinical response of a transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) with the tetrapeptide histidine-phenylalanine-arginine-tryptophan (molecular weight, 645 daltons). The amino acid sequence of this peptide represents the biologic active sequence of α-melanotropin, which is known to be part of the corticotropin molecule. We utilized αmelanotropin/corticotropin 6-9 . For transdermal administration, the peptide was colloidally adsorbed to an aluminum hydroxide