RESEARCH: Ozempic and Wegovy are linked to a uncommon situation that causes blindness in a single eye / Researchers analyzed the medical information of 17,000 sufferers

Researchers recognized a attainable hyperlink between semaglutide and a uncommon eye situation, however mentioned extra analysis is required to find out whether or not the drug brought about the issue. Folks taking the profitable weight reduction and diabetes medicine Wegovy and Ozempic could also be at elevated danger of blindness in a single eye on account of a uncommon eye situation, in line with a brand new examine. The examine, printed within the journal JAMA Ophthalmology, included the medical information of about 17,000 individuals over six years, reviews Euronews.

The examine discovered that diabetes sufferers prescribed semaglutide, which is marketed below the names Wegovy and Ozempic, had been about 4 instances extra more likely to be identified with non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NOIA), a watch situation is just not painful, however can’t be handled or cured.

Chubby or overweight sufferers who obtained the drug had been greater than seven instances extra more likely to develop non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy than sufferers who didn’t take the drug.

NOIA happens because of diminished blood circulation to the optic nerve, which connects the attention to the mind, inflicting sudden and everlasting blindness in a single eye. It is extremely uncommon, affecting two to 10 individuals in 100,000.

Nonetheless, the researchers mentioned that the outcomes must be considered by medical doctors and sufferers.

“The usage of these medicine has elevated in all industrialized international locations and has supplied crucial advantages in some ways, however future discussions between the affected person and their physician ought to NOIA launched as a attainable danger,” mentioned Dr. Joseph Rizzo, one of many examine’s authors and director of the neuro-ophthalmology service at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, the place the analysis was carried out.

The authors of the examine launched their examine in the summertime of 2023, after Rizzo and his colleagues examined NOIA inside per week in three sufferers who had been taking weight reduction medicine.

Discovering this suspicious given the rarity of the situation, they determined to investigate affected person information, which allowed them to determine the hyperlink.

Extra analysis is required

The examine has a number of essential limitations. It checked out correlation, which implies the researchers do not know whether or not the drug brought about the blindness, and included an unusually massive pattern of sufferers with eye ailments uncommon, which might keep away from the outcomes.

Nonetheless, their examine exhibits that sufferers had the very best danger of NOIA within the first yr after being prescribed semaglutide, suggesting that the situation could also be drug-induced.

The researchers mentioned their outcomes are “essential however unsure” and argue for a extra detailed examine of the hyperlink between semaglutide and imaginative and prescient loss.

“As a result of diabetes is a recognized danger issue for NOIA, sufferers with diabetes who’re eligible for semaglutide therapy could also be at the next danger for (the situation) initially,” in line with Dr. Andrew Lee, scientific spokesperson for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and neuro-ophthalmologist at Houston Methodist Hospital within the US.

“The kind of examine carried out right here is beneficial in figuring out attainable hyperlinks between semaglutide therapy and NOIA, however it’s not the kind of examine that may show that the therapy brought about the situation ,” Lee mentioned.

Though the examine is fascinating, “extra analysis is required to check the speculation,” he mentioned.

Different analysis exhibits that anti-obesity medicine can scale back the danger of most cancers, coronary heart assault and stroke, however they’ve additionally been linked to uncommon however critical abdomen issues.

The brand new findings are significantly related to individuals contemplating the treatment who’ve “different recognized optic nerve issues, corresponding to glaucoma, or if there’s already vital imaginative and prescient loss from different causes,” Rizzo mentioned.

Semaglutide has been common since Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk launched Ozempic to deal with diabetes in 2017 and launched Wegovy as a weight administration drug in 2021.

Demand has soared that the European Union is now dealing with a scarcity of Ozempic, prompting the European Medicines Company (EMA) to induce medical doctors to not prescribe it solely for ” beauty functions” and to warn towards faux medicine.