Counterfeit versions of Eli Lilly's blockbuster GLP-1 anti-obesity medications Mounjaro and Zepound are under fire from the drugmaker as it intensifies legal efforts to combat fraudulent and off-label cosmetic uses.
The drugmaker said it has filed six additional lawsuits against med-spas, wellness centers, and other entities selling unapproved compounded products containing what they claim is tirzepatide. The complaints argue that the counterfeit versions of Mounjaro and Zepound are not only unsafe for patients, but also allege false advertising, trademark infringement, and unfair competition.
Officials at Eli Lilly said in a June 20 open letter that many of the counterfeit products are made to look like the real versions and are falsely labeled as Eli Lilly products.
"These products are often advertised and sold online, through social media, or at certain med-spas," the company wrote in the letter. "They may contain no medicine, the wrong medicine, incorrect dosages, or multiple medicines mixed together, which could result in serious harm. They are never safe to use."
The two drugs, Mounjaro and Zepbound, are made with tirzepatide and are only FDA-approved to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity.
The company recommends pharmacists educate patients on the dangers of using counterfeit drugs and/or compounded tirzepatide; verify sources of obtaining legitimate drugs from authentic suppliers; and report issues to the state, and suspected fake products to Eli Lilly.
The company also "discovered compounded drugs advertised as tirzepatide with safety, sterility, and efficacy problems. Some have contained bacteria, high impurity levels, different colors (pink, instead of colorless), or a completely different chemical structure than Lilly’s FDA-approved medicines," it wrote in the update. "In at least one instance, the product was nothing more than sugar alcohol."
Additional guidance about how to identify Eli Lilly medications accurately was published on the company's site along with its open warning letter.
"We are guided every day by our founder Colonel Eli Lilly's saying when, over a hundred years ago, he affixed his signature as the logo to our medicines: 'If it bears a red Lilly, it’s right,'" the company wrote in the update.
These latest lawsuits filed by Eli Lilly related to its GLP-1 drugs follow a series of similar ones it filed against spas, wellness facilities and compounding pharmacies in September and October 2023.