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Ozempic and Wegovy linked with higher risk of rare blinding eye condition in new Harvard study
The study is the first to link the wildly popular weight-loss drugs with a higher risk of developing a rare form of blindness
Users of Ozempic and related trendy weight-loss drugs may be more likely to develop a rare form of blindness, researchers are reporting.
The study found that a prescription for Ozempic and other drugs containing the active compound, semaglutide, was associated with an increased risk of NAION, or nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.
It’s a mouthful, but relatively rare, affecting two to 10 in every 100,000 people per year. The blinding eye condition causes sudden and painless but permanent loss of vision in one eye due to insufficient blood flow and oxygen to the optic nerve. It’s sometimes referred to as an “eye stroke” and is a significant cause of blindness among adults.
Researchers at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital, became motivated late last summer to look at whether today’s highly sought-after weight-loss drugs might be associated with an increased risk of NAION, after three patients, all taking semaglutide, were diagnosed with the condition within the same week.
