{"id":781879,"date":"2026-07-24T13:30:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/781879\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T13:30:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T13:30:15","slug":"australian-regulator-warns-of-rare-but-severe-eye-disorder-linked-to-glp-1-drugs-like-ozempic-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/781879\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian regulator warns of \u2018rare but severe\u2019 eye disorder linked to GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic | Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s medicines regulator has issued warnings for several type 2 diabetes and obesity-related treatments \u2013 including Ozempic and Mounjaro \u2013 over the potential to cause a \u201crare but severe\u201d eye disorder that could lead to blindness.<\/p>\n

The Therapeutic Goods Administration\u2019s (TGA) warning<\/a> came after several GLP-1 RA medicines marketed in Australia as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, among other products, were linked to 36 cases of the condition.<\/p>\n

The TGA says the eye disorder \u2013 non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) \u2013 may result in permanent visual impairment and \u201cno treatment has been shown to improve visual acuity outcomes\u201d after the condition develops.<\/p>\n

Product information documents for Australians have been updated to reflect the new warning, and patients prescribed the drugs are urged to \u201cseek urgent medical attention if they experience sudden vision loss, including partial loss of vision\u201d.<\/p>\n

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But the TGA does not recommend patients stop treatment without first consulting a doctor, nor has it placed new restrictions on prescriptions.<\/p>\n

Prof Helen Danesh-Meyer, from the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists, said that NAION is \u201ca very rare condition\u201d that \u201cneeds to be put in perspective\u201d to avoid causing alarm.<\/p>\n

\u201cNaturally, blindness is something we all fear. It\u2019s one of the greatest concerns that people have,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it\u2019s still a very rare condition, while the other conditions these medications treat are very common, like heart attacks, stroke and kidney disease. If it helps manage and prevent those life-threatening risks, then for that patient it is probably better to continue it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The TGA said it first became aware of the link to NAION in 2024 after a study published in a peer-reviewed medical journal raised concerns, and further evidence of the potential links has since \u201cbeen closely monitored\u201d.<\/p>\n

The regulator said it conducted an independent assessment of the potential association between GLP-1 RAs and NAION, but found \u201cavailable evidence was conflicting\u201d and sought advice from the national advisory committee on medicines on whether the evidence required \u201cadditional risk-mitigation measures\u201d.<\/p>\n

The committee concluded that the current evidence called for further action, including updated consumer and clinical safety warnings.<\/p>\n

The national database of suspected adverse events involving medicines has recorded 36 cases of the eye disorder linked to the drugs. Ozempic and Wegovy accounted for 23 of the cases, with Mounjaro accounting for 10 and Saxenda for three.<\/p>\n

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No cases were reported in relation to dulaglutide, which is used in the product Trulicity. One of the reported semaglutide cases had a history of previously using dulaglutide.<\/p>\n

Danesh-Meyer said the benefits of the medications remain significant.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis kind of medication has actually revolutionised the management of diabetes as well as obesity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTherefore, we have suggested that doctors [do] not need to hold this medication \u2026 from patients unless they have underlying eye conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, said \u201cpatient safety is a top priority\u201d and that it \u201ccontinuously monitor[s] the safety profile of our medicines\u201d in collaboration with the TGA and other regulators worldwide.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said semaglutide has been studied in \u201cmultiple robust clinical development programs with a total exposure from post-marketing use of over 49 million patient years\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsidering the totality of evidence from clinical trials, post-marketing reports and observational studies, alongside the generally low incidence rate of NAION, Novo Nordisk believes that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains favorable,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s medicines regulator has issued warnings for several type 2 diabetes and obesity-related treatments \u2013 including Ozempic and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":781880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[58],"tags":[97,243],"class_list":["post-781879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=781879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/781879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=781879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=781879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=781879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}