March 6 (Reuters) - A U.S. federal judge has denied an

injunction that would have allowed compounding pharmacies to

keep making copies of Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) popular weight-loss

drug Zepbound in the U.S.

The decision was filed late on Wednesday in response to an

October lawsuit from a compounding industry group against the

U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision to bar those

copies.

Compounding pharmacies that have been selling hundreds of

thousands of doses of copies of Zepbound while the medicines

were in shortage are now running out of time to produce them.

Smaller compounding pharmacies that are largely overseen

by U.S. states must immediately cease making copies of

tirzepatide, while larger pharmacies regulated by the FDA have

until March 19.

U.S. regulations allow compounding pharmacies to manufacture

and sell large quantities of brand-name medicines only if they

are in short supply.

The FDA first announced in October that Lilly's Zepbound

and diabetes drug Mounjaro, both known chemically as

tirzepatide, were out of shortage before

reaffirming that decision

in December.