Lilly sues two pharmacies

In the past week, Eli Lilly has filed two lawsuits — one against Arizona-based Strive and one against Texas-based Empower — claiming each has falsely marketed its compounded tirzepatide products. 

The complaints in the suits are similar: Lilly claims that the pharmacies are marketing their tirzepatide products as ‘safe and effective alternatives’ to its own FDA-approved meds, but rely on Lilly’s studies to back those claims. And the company doesn’t like the pharmacies’ saying that their compounded formulations are better than Lilly’s just because they have added glycine and vitamin B12 (in Strive’s case) or are orally disintegrating tablets (in Empower’s).

And then there’s the idea of “personalized.” Lilly claims that both pharmacies’ products are actually mass-produced single formulations, not true individualized care.

All this, Lilly contends, has somehow harmed its reputation, cost it revenue (even while it couldn’t supply its own drugs … somehow), and put patients at risk. The company contends the issues fall under state deceptive practices laws and the federal Lanham Act, which governs, among other things, trademark, copyright, and unfair competition issues.

The drugmaker is asking the courts to 1) stop Strive and Empower from marketing the products as “personalized” or superior, 2) force them to admit to the public that they did Bad Things, and 3) award Lilly treble damages for the harm it’s claiming.