Long Island patients lost vision after taking weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, lawyer contends

A number of patients, including at least three from Long Island, contend they suddenly lost their vision after taking the widely popular weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, according to a Long Island-based attorney representing clients from New York, New Jersey and elsewhere.

The allegations come amid several recent studies showing a link between vision complications and people taking drugs containing semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, or tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound.

A lawsuit seeks unspecified financial damages.

'They totally can't see'

Nationwide, more than a dozen lawsuits have been filed alleging vision loss after taking Ozempic or Wegovy, said Jason Goldstein, senior litigation counsel with Parker Waichman LLP, who represents more than a dozen clients, including two from Nassau County and one from Suffolk County, who all claim to have suffered non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION — essentially a stroke of the eye — after taking drugs containing semaglutide.

Goldstein said he's filed one lawsuit to date in Middlesex, New Jersey, home to Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, and plans to file others in the coming weeks.

NAION is a rare condition, occurring in up to 10 out of 100,000 people in the general population, researchers said.

“People are just waking up and developing this NAION condition,” Goldstein said. ... "They wake and they totally can’t see. A lot of them lose their peripheral vision. They could lose total vision. I have one client who lost it in both eyes.”

His clients include Edward Fanelli, 57, of Freehold, New Jersey, who was prescribed Ozempic for treatment of Type 2 diabetes in October 2022. About eight months later, Fanelli said he developed severely blurred vision in his right eye, was diagnosed with NAION and was forced to stop working as a general contractor.

In an interview, Fanelli said he would have never taken the drug if he was aware of the potential risk of vision loss.

"If it was on the label, I definitely wouldn't have taken it," Fanelli said. "Who would want to risk losing their sight?"

In a statement, Lauren Browdy Weiner, spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk, said NAION is not considered a potential adverse reaction for drugs containing semaglutide.

"Novo Nordisk is of the opinion that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains unchanged," Weiner said, adding that internal studies do not suggest a "causal relationship" between semaglutide and NAION. ... "Patient safety is a top priority for Novo Nordisk, and we take all reports about adverse events from use of our medicines very seriously. This also relates to eye conditions, which are well-known comorbidities for people living with diabetes."

Further studies needed

A January study published in JAMA Ophthalmology and authored by Dr. Bradley Katz, a professor in the Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences at the University of Utah, reviewed nine patients ranging in age from 37 to 77 who experienced vision complications while taking weight loss drugs containing semaglutide or tirzepatide.

The study found seven subjects experienced NAION, one had an optic nerve inflammation known as papillitis while another developed paracentral acute middle maculopathy, a condition where individuals experience a blind spot in their vision.

Katz, an ophthalmologist at the John A. Moran Eye Center in Utah, said rapid changes in blood sugar may contribute to the vision complications although he stopped short of suggesting patients stop taking the drugs.

"This review was not conducted in any way that we can say these drugs caused the complications," Katz said. "Further studies are needed to test our hypothesis. However, this is an important issue for ophthalmologists as we monitor usage of these drugs and how to best be in communication with our patients about them."

Meanwhile, a study last July analyzed the medical records of more than 17,000 patients from the Boston-based Mass Eye and Ear, a vision and hearing research center. Researchers found people with diabetes who were prescribed semaglutide were more than four times more likely to be diagnosed with NAION.

"Our findings should be viewed as being significant but tentative, as future studies are needed to examine these questions in a much larger and more diverse population," Dr. Joseph Rizzo, the study’s lead author and director of the neuro-ophthalmology service at Mass Eye and Ear, said in a statement last year.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology in San Francisco said there isn't enough data yet to suggest patients should stop taking their weight loss medications.

"It is premature to conclude that the association is a causal association," Houston-based neuro-ophthalmologist Dr. Andrew Lee said in a statement released by the American Academy of Ophthalmology. "More research is necessary to test the hypothesis. Until then, patients should be aware of this information and, in consultation with their care team, make a careful, informed choice based on their individual risk profile."

CORRECTION: A Long Island law firm represents more than a dozen clients who claim to have suffered vision loss after taking weight loss drugs and has filed one lawsuit to date. An earlier version of this article misstated the number lawsuits filed by the firm.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.