It’s hard to argue that the introduction of drugs like Ozempic has been anything short of revolutionary for people looking to lose weight. However, just like any other medication, studies have shown some side effects that may come with the injections, ranging from relatively common ailments like muscle loss to potentially serious health problems that may land patients in the hospital in some rare cases. Ongoing research and trials are helping to paint a better picture of how the semaglutide drug affects those taking it. But now, a growing number of lawsuits claim that Ozempic causes vision loss in some patients.
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Some Ozempic patients are filing legal claims after developing vision problems.
Like many patients, 62-year-old Todd Engel began taking Ozempic in 2023 to manage his type 2 diabetes. However, not long after starting his prescription, the Maryland motor equipment operator started experiencing vision loss in one of his eyes that soon spread to the other, NBC News reports.
Just four months after he began his injections, he was diagnosed with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION)—a condition in which a lack of blood flow to the optic nerve that connects the eye to the brain can cause permanent vision damage and loss—and declared legally blind. The sudden health change robbed him of his ability to drive and forced him into early retirement from his job.
Last month, Engel filed a lawsuit in New Jersey claiming that Novo Nordisk—the pharmaceutical company that produces Ozempic—had failed to properly inform patients of the potential life-altering side effects. Lawyers emphasized that the drug maker had neglected to include pertinent data from previous clinical studies that focused on the relationship between the eye condition and the semaglutide medication, citing in the filing that "nothing was or is stopping Defendant from adding a warning regarding the risk of NAION," per NBC News.
Lawsuits claim the company should have warned about the potential side effect.
Engel isn’t alone in speaking up against the company. A score of other patients in New York and New Jersey have also filed lawsuits against Novo Nordisk after they too were diagnosed with NAION after starting an Ozempic prescription.
"People are just waking up and developing this [vision] condition," Jason Goldstein, a lawyer representing the plaintiffs, told Newsday. "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."
According to Edward Fanelli, a 57-year-old from New Jersey who’s one of the patients to file a lawsuit, the lack of a warning about the side effect was unacceptable. Similar to Engel, he lost his vision eight months after beginning to take Ozempic, forcing him to quit his job as a general contractor.
"If it was on the label, I definitely wouldn't have taken it," he told Newsday. "Who would want to risk losing their sight?"
Previous studies have suggested a connection.
While the lawsuits are still pending, there does appear to be some research that backs the plaintiff’s claims. A study published in JAMA Ophthalmology in 2024 found that patients using semaglutide drugs such as Ozempic or Wegovy were four times more likely to develop NAION.
Then, another study published in the journal in January 2025 found that the GLP-1 weight loss drugs can additionally lead to two separate serious eye conditions. Out of nine patients aged 37 to 77 assessed, one developed NAION, while others developed papillitis (inflammation of the optic nerve) and paracentral acute middle maculopathy (impacting your eyes’ blood vessels).
According to ophthalmologist Bradley Katz, PhD, the study’s lead author, vision issues are already a comorbidity related to diabetes. However, the GLP-1 medications might also be responsible for another change in the body that exacerbates the issue.
"These drugs are very effective at reducing blood sugar and when one rapidly reduces blood sugar it can cause swelling in the optic nerve," he told MedicalNewsToday. "It can also temporarily worsen diabetic eye changes. How it causes swelling is thought to be due to an osmotic shift. When there’s more 'stuff' in your blood—in this case sugar—and you suddenly reduce the amount of stuff in the blood, it causes rapid shifts in fluid between blood vessels and cells in the eye."
RELATED: Doctor Says Ozempic Raises Certain Health Risks by Up to 900%.
The drugmaker has pushed back on the claims.
Ozempic Isn't Working for Weight Loss in Some Patients—Here's How to Fix ThatShutterstock
Novo Nordisk says that it continues to take all reports of adverse events seriously. However, in light of studies conducted in the company’s native Denmark, it maintains that the benefit-risk profile provided by GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic has not shifted.
"This also relates to eye conditions, which are well-known comorbidities for people living with diabetes," a spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said in a statement, per NBC News. "Any decision to start treatment with prescription-only medicines should be made in consultation with a healthcare professional who should do a benefit-risk evaluation for the patient in question, weighing up the benefits of treatment with the potential risks."
In addressing his study’s findings, Katz recommended consulting your prescribing doctor or seeing an ophthalmologist if you experience any changes in your vision. Some of the earliest symptoms of NAION can include loss of vision upon waking, dark area or shadow in vision, blurred vision, color vision loss, loss of contrast, light sensitivity, periocular eye pain, and headache, per LawyersAndSettlements.com.
Still, patients who are coping with their new conditions want to help ensure others don't follow the same fate. "Hopefully his story will show that there’s another side to this drug that has bought the reputation as being a miracle drug," Jonathan Orent, Engel's attorney, told NBC News.
RELATED: Patient Shares Another Ozempic Side Effect: "You Never Know What Will Set It Off."
The takeaway.
Patients have begun filing lawsuits against Ozempic's parent company, Novo Nordisk, claiming the weight loss drug caused vision loss without warning. The patients in question developed a condition known as NAION within months of starting their injection regimen.
Two separate studies saw an increased risk of developing NAION and vision problems for patients taking semaglutide drugs. However, Novo Nordisk pushed back against the claims, citing other research that there is minimal risk to patients.
