Lawsuits

GLP-1 Makers Sued Over Rare Sudden Vision Loss

Is this proof rapid weight-loss is too good to be true or has a causal link with NAION yet to be established?

11 hours ago·Updated 9 hours ago

GLP-1 Makers Sued Over Rare Sudden Vision Loss

Story

Above: Weight loss injection pens on a weight scale. Image credit: Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

Harvard researchers found semaglutide users developing NAION at four to seven times the normal rate, and European regulators found the risk real enough to require warnings on the label. With tens of millions on these drugs, a one-in-10,000 risk means thousands of people facing sudden blindness and permanent optic nerve damage. These serious side effects make clear that rapid weight loss treatments are too good to be true.

The HighWire on X

Aakash Gupta on X

Narrative B

Randomized placebo-controlled trials of semaglutide and liraglutide show no increased incidence of NAION, and that's the gold standard for proving cause. Cohort studies covering more than 100,000 patients back it up, with relative risks sitting right at or below 1.0 across one. Scaring patients off effective medicine over a causal relationship unestablished by best practice helps no one.

Beverly G. Tchang, MD on X

Daniel J Drucker on X