Ozempic and Wegovy linked to optic nerve stroke, attainable blindness
Sufferers who took the continuously prescribed diabetes and weight-loss medication Ozempic and Wegovy confronted a larger threat of a stroke of the optic nerve, which may result in blindness, in line with a brand new examine by Mass Normal Brigham researchers.
The examine says folks prescribed semaglutide, offered beneath the manufacturers Ozempic for diabetes or Wegovy for weight reduction, had been extra prone to be recognized with a uncommon situation known as NAION than these with diabetes or weight problems who didn’t take the drugs. Researchers cautioned they haven’t any proof that semaglutide causes this probably blinding situation, merely that the examine discovered sufferers taking the diabetes or weight-loss medicine confronted a larger threat of creating it.
Dr. Joseph Rizzo, director of neuro-ophthalmology at Mass Normal Brigham’s Mass Eye and Ear, mentioned the examine is the primary to hyperlink these diabetes and weight-loss medication to this uncommon situation. Nonetheless, he mentioned there’s not sufficient proof to point out semaglutide causes NAION.
“I might take it as a critical, cautionary bit of data – the sort of data that needs to be utilized by physicians in dialogue with their sufferers,” mentioned Rizzo, the examine’s writer and an ophthalmology professor at Harvard Medical College.
He added that sufferers ought to think about the examine’s findings when deciding whether or not to start the drugs.
Novo Nordisk, which markets Ozempic and Wegovy, mentioned in a press release that the pharmaceutical firm takes affected person security stories significantly. The corporate mentioned the examine information doesn’t set up a “causal affiliation” between the drugs and the situation. The corporate added that NAION has not been described as a possible facet impact for the medication’ advertising and marketing labels permitted by the Meals and Drug Administration.
“Semaglutide has been studied in giant actual world proof research and sturdy scientific improvement packages with a cumulative publicity over 22 million affected person years,” the corporate mentioned in a press release.
What’s NAION and the way widespread is it?
Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, is a uncommon situation that afflicts 2 to 10 out of 100,000 folks. Like a mind stroke, the situation happens from diminished blood circulate to the optic nerve, which may harm tissue. It’s the second most typical reason for blindness from optic nerve harm, trailing solely glaucoma. Individuals with hypertension or diabetes even have an elevated threat for NAION.
Final summer time, medical doctors at Mass Eye and Ear observed three sufferers had been recognized with imaginative and prescient loss as a result of this uncommon situation in only one week. All three had been taking semaglutide. This anecdotal discovering prompted the researchers to dig deeper.
Researchers analyzed the data of about 17,000 Mass Eye and Ear sufferers over six years and narrowed the data to those that had both sort 2 diabetes or weight problems. The six-year interval matched the timing that Ozempic has been available on the market. The researchers in contrast sufferers who had been prescribed semaglutide to these taking different diabetes or weight reduction drugs.
Rizzo mentioned there is no such thing as a diagnostic code for NAION, so researchers narrowed instances by on the lookout for a associated time period, ischemic optic neuropathy. From there, they confirmed instances by reviewing medical data.
What did the examine discover?
Of the 710 folks with diabetes, 194 had been prescribed semaglutide whereas 516 took different drugs. Nonetheless, 17 sufferers on semaglutide had NAION whereas simply six sufferers who took different drugs had the situation. The identical was true when analyzing 979 sufferers who had been overweight or chubby. Of the 361 chubby or overweight sufferers who had been prescribed semaglutide, 20 developed NAION. Amongst 618 overweight or chubby sufferers who took different drugs, solely three had NAION.
“This examine clearly exhibits an affiliation between semaglutide and NAION,” Rizzo mentioned. “What we do not know is whether or not it is a trigger and impact.”
He mentioned additional examine exploring a possible trigger and impact would require a a lot bigger group of sufferers.
The examine drew sufferers from a single Boston-area medical apply that sees a considerable portion of the area’s sufferers with NAION, so the examine’s authors famous the findings may not translate to the overall inhabitants. Additionally, researchers didn’t know whether or not sufferers who had been prescribed semaglutide truly took the medicine, or whether or not they had began and stopped the medicine. Nonetheless, researchers confirmed pharmacies stuffed the prescriptions.
One other latest non-peer-reviewed examine discovered greater than half of individuals prescribed weight-loss medication Saxenda and Wegovy over the previous decade ended their therapy too early to comprehend significant well being advantages. The Blue Cross Blue Defend Affiliation examine of almost 170,000 folks between July 2014 and December 2023 discovered that 58% did not full a 12-week course of the drugs liraglutide or semaglutide, that are offered beneath the model names Saxenda and Wegovy.
Makers of the blockbuster weight reduction and diabetes medication, a part of a medicine class known as GLP-1 agonists, or glucagon-like peptide 1, already face dozens of lawsuits from customers who mentioned they wanted to have their gallbladder eliminated or suffered a kind of abdomen paralysis after taking the drug.
