(Bloomberg) — Novo Nordisk A/S’s blockbuster shot Ozempic was linked to an elevated danger of a uncommon type of imaginative and prescient loss in a examine that backs up Harvard University analysis printed earlier this yr.
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Diabetes sufferers who used Ozempic had been greater than twice as prone to be recognized with the uncommon situation, known as NAION, than those that took one other kind of diabetes drug, in response to a workforce of researchers who studied years of affected person information from Denmark and Norway. The examine wasn’t in a position to decide whether or not there was an analogous impression amongst folks taking Ozempic’s sister drug, Wegovy, for weight problems.
The outcomes appeared Dec. 11 on medRxiv, a web site that posts research earlier than they’ve been reviewed by exterior scientists.
NAION happens when a lack of blood movement damages the optic nerve and is commonest in folks older than 50. Diabetes itself, coronary heart illness, sleep apnea and different situations may also elevate the danger that it’s going to strike. The total price of the situation was very low within the examine, with simply 1.4 extra instances per 10,000 years of affected person commentary amongst sufferers who took Ozempic in contrast with those that took the opposite diabetes drug.
Still, the attention situation is irreversible, untreatable and probably blinding, and docs have stated that sufferers needs to be knowledgeable of the doable danger. The corresponding creator on the examine declined to remark.
Novo shares fell as a lot as 5.4% in Copenhagen, probably the most in a few month. The inventory has climbed about 8% this yr, outpacing an increase of round 4% in a Bloomberg index monitoring European pharmaceutical corporations.
Weighing Benefits
Assuming the danger stays fixed over time, the outcomes point out {that a} kind 2 diabetes affected person taking Ozempic for 20 years would have a 0.3% to 0.5% likelihood of growing NAION, the analysis workforce stated.
“It is essential to weigh the potential danger of NAION in opposition to the substantial therapeutic advantages of semaglutide,” the lively ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, in response to authors from the University of Southern Denmark, Norwegian Institute of Public Health and University of Copenhagen, in addition to different establishments that performed the analysis.
After an intensive analysis of this examine and its personal inside security evaluation, Novo stated it believes the risk-benefit profile is unchanged. Very few instances of NAION had been seen in Novo’s personal trials, the corporate stated, “with no imbalance disfavoring” its medication.
