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Dad says he went permanently blind
New York Post • • health
Key Points:
- Edward Gillen, a Massachusetts father and softball coach, lost his vision rapidly and was diagnosed with nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), a condition linked to the diabetes drug Ozempic, which he had been taking for about a year.
- NAION is a rare, sudden, and irreversible vision loss caused by blocked blood flow to the optic nerve, with no available treatment, and recent studies suggest a potential but low risk association with GLP-1 drugs like semaglutide (Ozempic).
- Experts note the difficulty in determining causation since patients on GLP-1 drugs often have preexisting risk factors for NAION, including diabetes, obesity, and hypertension.
- Over 200 lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, alleging failure to warn patients about the risk of NAION and claiming the drugs are defectively dangerous.
- Novo Nordisk denies the allegations, emphasizing the drug's well-established safety profile supported by extensive clinical data and post-marketing experience involving millions of patient-years.
