Diabetes patients who took Ozempic were more than twice as likely to develop an eye condition that causes vision loss than patients using a different diabetes drug, according to a new study.
The study linked semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — which in addition to treating diabetes are widely used to lose weight — to non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).
The study, published last week on a preprint server, is undergoing peer review.
NAION can result in sudden vision loss due to loss of blood flow to the optic nerve. It is a major cause of severe vision loss and blindness in adults and the second-most common form of optic nerve damage after glaucoma. There is no effective treatment for the condition.
Doctors have recommended that patients considering taking these drugs should be informed of the risk, Bloomberg reported.
While the absolute risk of the disorder remains low, the authors of the study said, they found 1.4 additional cases per 10,000 among patients who took Ozempic.
Researchers analyzed data from the national healthcare registries in Denmark and Norway, comparing the rates of NAION between people taking semaglutide (Ozempic) versus those taking SGLT-2s, an older class of drugs used to treat Type 2 diabetes.
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