By Patrick Wingrove
(Reuters) – Eli Lilly on Thursday said it sued 11 online pharmacies to stop them from importing, selling and distributing products claiming to contain the active ingredient in its diabetes drug Mounjaro, which is expected to be approved for weight loss later this year.
The Indianapolis-based drugmaker said the suit will go to the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC).
It names the U.S.-based Artic Peptides, Strate Labs, Supopeptide, The Triggered Brand, and Unewlife as defendants, along with Britain’s Biolabshop, Spain’s Super Human Store and Steroide Kaufen in Poland. China’s Audrey Beauty, Mew Mews Company and AustroPeptide were also targeted in the complaint.
Lilly said testing of AustroPeptide’s product purporting to contain the Mounjaro main ingredient tirzepatide showed it actually was “nothing more than sugar alcohol.”
The U.S. ITC has the power issue import bans against products that violate certain parts of U.S. trade law and to take them off the market once they have entered the country.
Once the complaint is published in the Federal Register, the commission will have 30 days to decide whether to accept it or not.
Lilly is accusing the online pharmacies of infringing its trademark for Mounjaro, falsely associating themselves with Lilly and approved tirzepatide, and making false or misleading statements in their advertisements related to tirzepatide.
“The unapproved drug products are dangerous research chemicals that are not approved for human consumption and have no connection to Eli Lilly or Mounjaro,” Lilly said in its lawsuit.
Lilly is the only company with U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to sell tirzepatide products.
The suit comes exactly one month after Eli Lilly sued 10 U.S. medical spas, wellness centers and compounding pharmacies at federal courts in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, South Carolina and Utah for selling products claiming to contain tirzepatide.
The FDA last week published letters warning two online vendors to stop selling unapproved versions of tirzepatide and semaglutide, the active ingredient in Novo Nordisk’s powerful weight-loss drug Wegovy.
(Reporting by Patrick Wingrove; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
