By Abdulmalik Mohammed
People prescribed semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, to lose weight, may have a higher risk of developing a serious but rare eye condition, a study suggests.Analysing 17,000 patients over six years, US researchers found those taking the drug for type 2 diabetes were four times more likely to be diagnosed with the condition than patients not on the drug.Among those taking it for obesity, the risk of the condition was seven times higher.
But the researchers cannot prove semaglutide caused the eye condition, which can lead to loss of vision in one eye, nor can they explain the increased risk or the difference between the groups. The numbers affected were small.‘Beach-body ready’Novo Nordisk, the company that makes the drug, said patient safety was “a top priority” but the study had lots of limitations.Trials show semaglutide can help people with obesity lose more than 10% of their body weight, if they also make changes to diet and lifestyle.
There has been huge hype around the drug after celebrities on social media starting posting about their sudden weight loss while taking it.Despite it being available on prescription only to people with type 2 diabetes (Ozempic) and the most obese (Wegovy), online pharmacies are selling semaglutide injections with few checks on the weight or underlying health of the person buying them.And as a result, health bosses say they are worried the drug is being misused as “a quick fix” for people trying to get “beach-body ready”.All medicines carry potential side-effects.Some of the most common for semaglutide include:Nausea
Vomiting
Diarrhoea
Stomach pain
Constipation
A change in vision is listed as one of the more serious potential side-effects, on both Ozempic and Wegovy’s safety information for patients.Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), affects up to 10 out of 100,000 people in the general population, the researchers, from Harvard Medical School, report in journal JAMA Ophthalmology.It Is thought to be caused by reduced blood flow to an optic nerve and cannot currently be treated.