Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy may have a potential link with an eye condition that causes vision loss, according to a new study published Wednesday in JAMA Ophthalmology
In a observational study, researchers found that diabetic and obese patients that were prescribed semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — had a higher risk of developing nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
NAION is a condition in which blood flow in the optic nerve — a bundle nerve fibers that connects the back of the eye to the brain — is reduced leading to sudden and irreversible blindness. The condition is the most common optic nerve disease in the United States, affecting up to 10 out of 100,000 older Americans every year, according to the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
The study’s researchers analyzed medical recorders over the past six years from over 16,000 patients in the Boston area.
Of those patients, 710 where diagnosed with type 2 diabetes with 194 being prescribed semaglutide. Of the patients in this cohort that were given semaglutide 17 ended up developing NAION. For comparison, there were only six cases of NAION among the patients who were not prescribed semaglutide. This translated to a slightly over 4% higher risk of diabetic patients taking semaglutide developing NAION.
The risk was even higher for obese patients. In separate cohort of 979 patients with obesity, 361 were prescribed semaglutide. There were 20 patients in this cohort that were given semaglutide and developed NAION. And only 3 patients who were not prescribed semaglutide developed NAION. This indicated a 7.6% higher risk for semaglutide patients.
The study authors wrote that findings only “suggest an association between semaglutide and NAION” and that further studies are required to determine causality.
