--- title: "Eli Lilly Blasts Use of Mounjaro and Zepbound for “Cosmetic Weight Loss”" description: "Eli Lilly, the pharma firm behind Zepbound and Mounjaro is, ironically, calling people out for using the drugs to lose weight. " date: "2024-06-21" modified: "2024-06-21" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/eli-lilly-mounjaro-zepbound-cosmetic-weight-loss" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" tags: - "eli lilly" - "mounjaro" - "tirzepatide" - "Weight Loss" --- # Eli Lilly Blasts Use of Mounjaro and Zepbound for “Cosmetic Weight Loss” ![Eli Lilly, the pharma firm behind Zepbound and Mounjaro is, ironically, calling people out for using the drugs to lose weight. ]() *\Image: Sandy Huffaker for The Washington Post via Getty / Futurism\* The pharmaceutical giant behind the [popular weight loss injectables Zepbound and Mounjaro]() is — ironically, perhaps — calling people out for using them to lose weight. In an [open letter](), drugmaker Eli Lilly declared that it "stands against the use of its medicines for cosmetic weight loss" — even as people using the Ozempic competitors for that very purpose have made the company [billions of dollars]() over the [past few years](). Both Mounjaro and Zepbound, which use the hormone-mimicking drug [tirzepatide as their active ingredient](), are classified as weight loss medications for people with diabetes, high cholesterol or high blood sugar. Much [like Ozempic](), however, these drugs are [often prescribed]() and taken [off-label for weight loss]() even for those who don't have those conditions. While doctors rush to prescribe their overweight patients these subcutaneously-injected drugs that can both [suppress appetite]() and [cause stomach issues](), the company raking in the dough from those prescriptions is calling foul. As Lilly notes in its warning letter, Mounjaro and Zepbound should [only be used]() as per [FDA approval]() — meaning exclusively for people who are both overweight and have another weight-related condition, like diabetes. The Indianapolis-based company added that because tirzepatide has not been tested on people who have gastrointestinal disorders such as pancreatitis and gastroparesis, people who have those conditions should avoid the drug. Though it didn't mention it by name, the specter of Denmark's Novo Nordisk, which makes the diabetes injection Ozempic and its weight loss sister drug Wegovy, hangs heavy over Lilly letter. The pharma firm cautioned that tirzepatide should not be taken by anyone under 18 and will never be advertised on social media — two issues that have become salient for Nordisk as [unapproved ads for its products run online]() and as more and more [children are being prescribed Ozempic and Wegovy](). The rival firms' interests dovetail towards the end of the open letter, where Lilly issued a stark warning about buying and using compounded tirzepatide from [online pharmacies]() that are [not regulated by the FDA](). Nordisk, notably, has also had to deal with the same issue regarding [compounded semaglutide](), the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. "Be aware that when you purchase products that are not FDA-approved medicines or obtain medicines from an unverified source or without a prescription from a licensed healthcare provider, you may be purchasing fake, counterfeit, or otherwise unsafe products," the letter cautioned. It's an intriguing positioning for the pharma giant. Entire fields of treatment — think botox, or lip filler, or Brazilian butt lifts — have essentially no purpose *except* to address patients' cosmetic concerns about their bodies. Will drugs like semaglutide and tirzepatide chart a different course, with their makers positioning them as strictly medical? For now, that certainly feels like Lilly's strategy. More on weight loss warnings: *[Scary Counterfeit Ozempic Contains the Wrong Drug]()* ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()