On Thursday, Eli Lilly said it was suing 11 online pharmacies in an effort to prevent them from importing, selling, or distributing products which claimed to contain Mounjaro, the active agent in its main diabetes drug, which the company expects will receive official FDA approval for use in weight loss, later this year.

The suit will be filed with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), according to the Indianapolis-based drugmaker.

The suit will name US-based Artic Peptides, Strate Labs, Supopeptide, The Triggered Brand, and Unewlife as defendants, as well as Britain’s Biolabshop, Spain’s Super Human Store and Steroide Kaufen in Poland. The suit will also target China’s Audrey Beauty, Mew Mews Company and AustroPeptide.

Lilly said it had test results of AustroPeptide’s product which claims to contain the Mounjaro main ingredient tirzepatide, however the test results show the product was, “nothing more than sugar alcohol.”

In the US the ITC has the power to issue an import ban if it determines a product violates US Trade Law, and to order that all such products in the country must be removed from the market.

The commission will have 30 days from when the complaint is filed in the Federal Register to decide whether to accept it or not.

In the suit, Lilly accuses the online pharmacies of infringement upon the Mounjaro trademark, falsely implying an association between themselves and Lilly and the approved drug tirzepatide, and of issuing advertisements containing false or misleading statements regarding tirzepatide.

In its lawsuit, Lilly said, “The unapproved drug products are dangerous research chemicals that are not approved for human consumption and have no connection to Eli Lilly or Mounjaro.”

Presently the only company with approval from the US Food and Drug Administration to sell tirzepatide products is Lilly.

Exactly one month before the filing of this suit, Eli Lilly had sued 10 US-based medical spas, wellness centers, and compounding pharmacies in federal courts in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Minnesota, South Carolina and Utah over the sale of products which claimed to contain tirzepatide.

Last week, the FDA issued letters ordering two online vendors to cease the sale of unapproved versions of tirzepatide and semaglutide, the active ingredient in the powerful weight-loss drug Wegovy by Novo Nordisk.