April 1 (Reuters) - Eli Lilly ( LLY ) said on Tuesday it

had sued two mass compounders for selling unapproved products

that contain tirzepatide, the main ingredient in its popular

weight-loss and diabetes medicines.

This comes after a U.S. federal judge last month refused to

allow compounding pharmacies to keep making copies of these

drugs in the United States.

Compounders had been allowed to produce hundreds of

thousands of doses of copies of obesity drugs only while the FDA

said there was a shortage of them.

Lilly has already sued more than two dozen medical spas,

wellness centers and compounding pharmacies for selling products

claiming to contain tirzepatide.

The new lawsuits from Lilly name Strive Pharmacy LLC and

Empower Clinic Services LLC. Lilly said the companies were

selling unapproved drugs and making false claims about efficacy

and safety.

Lilly said Strive's tirzepatide products, which come in

standard doses added with vitamin B12 or glycine, are falsely

suggested to be safer and more effective than FDA-approved

medicines.

Empower offers compounded tirzepatide as an oral pill and an

injectable version with a form of vitamin B3 added to it,

falsely suggesting their efficacy by citing Lilly's own clinical

studies, according to Lilly.

The complaint against Empower was filed in the district

court of New Jersey and the one against Strive was filed in the

district court of Delaware.

The drugmaker will also send about fifty cease and desist

letters to compounders and telehealth companies, asking them to

confirm that they have already ceased mass compounding.

(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by

Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)