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Throughout social media and medical circles, circumstances have surfaced of customers dropping eyesight after taking semaglutide medicine like Ozempic, Wegovy and others. Concern has shifted from remoted anecdotes to actual scientific and authorized scrutiny.
A groundbreaking examine launched this yr in JAMA Ophthalmology reviewed 9 sufferers who took semaglutide or tirzepatide (the lively ingredient in Mounjaro) after which suffered extreme optic nerve injury. Seven had been identified with non‑arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), a sudden blockage of blood circulation to the optic nerve that always results in everlasting imaginative and prescient loss. One other affected person suffered swollen optic nerves, and yet one more sustained retinal injury. This phenomenon has been dubbed “Ozempic blindness”
These 9 circumstances barely scratch the floor. A pair of Danish research, spanning over 400,000 Sort 2 diabetic sufferers, discovered that the usage of Ozempic greater than doubled the danger of growing NAION in comparison with different therapies. The variety of reported NAION occurrences elevated from roughly 60–70 circumstances yearly earlier than 2018 to almost 150 after the introduction of semaglutide to the market.
Man claims extreme imaginative and prescient loss
On the authorized entrance, Maryland resident Todd Engel has filed a lawsuit claiming extreme imaginative and prescient loss after taking Ozempic in August 2023. 4 months later, he was identified with NAION, dropping imaginative and prescient first in a single eye, then the opposite — his attorneys describe the result as life‑altering and devastating.
Engel’s authorized case argues that Novo Nordisk was conscious of the dangers from the outset. He alleges inside trial information documented optic nerve incidents, however they weren’t included in public warnings or packaging. Authorized counsel stands agency: he would have declined the drug had he identified the danger.
Regulators are additionally taking discover. The European Medicines Company’s security committee (PRAC) has categorised NAION as a “very uncommon” facet impact, occurring in as much as 1 in 10,000 customers on a yr‑lengthy routine.
In Australia, reviews to the Therapeutic Items Administration revealed greater than 40 circumstances of eye issues linked to semaglutide, together with two involving sudden blindness.
Harvard warns 7x increased dangers
Huge Harvard analysis analysed hundreds of affected person data and warned of a seven‑fold increased danger for these on semaglutide.
But the drugmaker stresses that no direct causal hyperlink has been confirmed and that their inside opinions don’t justify label modifications. They keep that the advantages proceed to outweigh the dangers.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the Danish producer of Ozempic and Wegovy, instructed The Submit, “NAION is a sporadic eye illness, and it’s not an hostile drug response.” They stated that after evaluating the analysis and an inside security evaluation, “Novo Nordisk believes that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide stays unchanged.”
Nonetheless, the private tales paint a stark distinction. Engel misplaced his independence and ended his profession. One other claimant, Edward Fanelli, reported dropping peripheral imaginative and prescient after eight months of use.
A number of lawsuits now push for warning labels and knowledgeable consent. Not less than a dozen practically an identical lawsuits are underway in federal courts.
The drug continues to be comparatively new
Docs are scrambling to regulate. Specialists recommend that sufferers on GLP-1 medicine, significantly these older than 50 or these with present eye circumstances, ought to endure common eye screenings. Wong and colleagues from Harvard suggest rapid ophthalmic consideration if sudden imaginative and prescient modifications happen.
The US Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) is at the moment reviewing the proof; nonetheless, no label updates have been introduced. Like several drugs, semaglutide comes with dangers and advantages; nonetheless, this novel drug, which was first accredited by the FDA in 2017 for the therapy of diabetes, continues to be comparatively new to the scientific group.
Sufferers and physicians should weigh the life‑altering advantages of those medicines in opposition to the potential everlasting unwanted side effects.
For now, vigilance is essential. Anybody on Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro who experiences sudden imaginative and prescient blurring, darkish spots, or shadowed sight ought to cease the drug and search medical assist. Consciousness will be the solely software that forestalls “Ozempic blindness” from catching one other unsuspecting affected person.
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