{"id":166670,"date":"2025-06-08T04:04:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T04:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166670\/"},"modified":"2025-06-08T04:04:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T04:04:10","slug":"popular-weight-loss-drugs-ozempic-wegovy-linked-to-dangerous-eye-condition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/166670\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Weight-Loss Drugs Ozempic, Wegovy Linked to Dangerous Eye Condition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>European health officials are warning that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nysun.com\/article\/fat-shot-chance-millions-of-americans-face-sticker-shock-from-weight-loss-drugs-as-fda-bars-production-of-cheaper-versions-of-ozempic-others\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">popular weight-loss drugs<\/a> Ozempic and Wegovy can cause a potentially dangerous eye condition as a side effect.<\/p>\n<p>The European Medicines Agency\u2019s safety committee <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ema.europa.eu\/en\/news\/prac-concludes-eye-condition-naion-very-rare-side-effect-semaglutide-medicines-ozempic-rybelsus-wegovy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">says<\/a> a review of drugs containing semaglutide, otherwise known as GLP-1 drugs, showed a possible increased risk in users of developing non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, an eye condition that may cause vision loss. A type 2 diabetes drug, Rybelsus, is also included in the warning.<\/p>\n<p>The safety committee calls the side effect \u201cvery rare,\u201d affecting up to 1 in 10,000 people, but still recommends that the side effect be added to the product information for the Novo Nordisk-produced drugs.<\/p>\n<p>The European Union\u2019s health body warns patients if they experience a sudden loss of vision or rapidly worsening eyesight during treatment with semaglutide, they should immediately contact a doctor. If the condition is confirmed, treatment with semaglutide should be stopped.<\/p>\n<p>Government health officials say results from several large studies suggest that exposure to semaglutide in adults with type 2 diabetes doubles the risk of developing the condition compared with people not taking the medicine. This corresponds to approximately one additional case per 10,000 people.<\/p>\n<p>Data from clinical trials also point to a slightly higher risk of developing the condition in people taking semaglutide, compared with people taking placebo.<\/p>\n<p>Semaglutide acts in the same way as GLP-1 \u2014 a natural hormone in the body \u2014 by increasing the amount of insulin that the pancreas releases in response to food. This helps with the control of blood glucose levels. Semaglutide also regulates appetite by increasing a person\u2019s feelings of fullness, while reducing hunger and cravings.<\/p>\n<p>Use of the drugs for weight loss has exploded in the United States, with one in eight people taking a GLP-1 agonist at some point, and 6 percent currently taking the drug, according to a 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/health-costs\/poll-finding\/kff-health-tracking-poll-may-2024-the-publics-use-and-views-of-glp-1-drugs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KFF report<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The new labeling recommendations will now be sent to another committee to adopt the agency\u2019s opinion. The European Commission will then issue a final, legally binding decision to be followed by the entire EU.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"European health officials are warning that the popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy can cause a potentially dangerous&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[105,4326,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-166670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114645766313300394","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}