What types of eye injuries does Ozempic/Wegovy cause?
Ozempic/Wegovy are two of the most common weight-loss medications known as GLP-1 drugs. Other GLP-1 drugs include Mounjaro, Rybelsus, Saxenda, Victoza, Trulicity, and Zepbound. All of these products are made by one of two main drugmakers, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly.
It has been known for a while now that scientific studies indicate that Ozempic/Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs can cause serious gastrointestinal injuries.
Recently, scientific studies show that Ozempic/Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs can also cause vision loss through an eye injury called non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (“NAION”).
Even more recently, Ozempic/Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs have been medically linked to vision loss through an increased risk of developing neovascular age-related macular degeneration (“nAMD”), particularly in patients with diabetes.
How do eye injuries fit into the current Ozempic/Wegovy litigation?
Federal claims against Novo Nordisk Eli and Lilly have been consolidated in a Multi-District Litigation (“MDL”), in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, under Judge Gene E.K. Pratter. The MDL includes certain gastrointestinal injury claims. The MDL does not include eye injury or vision loss claims.
Eye injury and vision loss claims have not yet been consolidated and are being filed separately in federal and state courts across the country.
How do I know if I have an Ozempic/Wegovy vision loss claim?
The science is still advancing, but a recent scientific study showed that with even limited treatment using GLP-1 drugs, there was a clear association with NAION in diabetic and overweight patients.
In addition, the most recent study showed that: in patients with diabetes, who took GLP-1 drugs for at least six months, the risk of developing nAMD basically doubled.
Based upon what we know now, to have a viable claim you should be able to show through your medical and pharmacy records that you took a GLP-1 drug made by Novo Nordisk or Eli Lilly. If you took an off-brand GLP-1 drug made by a compounding pharmacy, you likely will not have a viable claim.
You must also be able to show that you took the GLP-1 drug for an extended period of time. While studies differ, the more viable claims will entail several months of treatment, with injuries occurring while treating or shortly after stopping treatment.
Finally, you must have been formally diagnosed with NAION, nAMD, a similar eye injury, or general vision loss.
How do I find an Ozempic/Wegovy vision loss attorney?
You have been diagnosed with eye injury or vision loss close to using Ozempic/Wegovy or other GLP-1 drugs for an extended period of time. You now need to talk to legal counsel with experience in national pharmaceutical litigations and Ozempic/Wegovy vision loss claims in particular.
Do your homework and research the firm you will be working with — there is a really good chance it will not be the same lawyer who handled your last speeding ticket, or the people answering the phone at the other end of one of the 800 numbers that flash across your television screen late at night.
Also, as with any claims, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly will assert various defenses and some of these defenses can include applicable filing deadlines like statutes of limitations and repose. This basically means that the longer a claimant waits to file a lawsuit, the more likely these types of defenses could be used against that claimant.
