Ozempic faces scrutiny over potential eye disease risk

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There may be a new unintended side effect related to Novo NordiskOzempic, the successful injection for diabetes.

Danish health authorities said Monday they are asking the European Union drug regulator to review the results of two Danish studies linking Ozempic to an increased risk of a rare, vision-threatening eye disease in type 2 diabetes patients. .

The condition is called nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION. It is characterized by loss of vision due to decreased blood flow to the front of the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain.

The disease usually occurs without any pain and most often affects people aged 50 and over. NAION affects between 2.3 and 10.3 patients per 100,000 people per year in the United States, according to some estimates.

The Danish Medicines Agency said it has been closely monitoring NAION as a possible side effect of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, for the past six months. The agency received 19 reports of the disease in Denmark as of December 10.

But the total number of NAION cases in Denmark has increased since Ozempic was introduced to the Danish market in 2018, Jakob Grauslund, professor of eye diseases at the University of Southern Denmark, or SDU, said in a statement. published Monday. Denmark used to have between 60 and 70 cases a year, but now has up to 150, added Grauslund, who helped lead one of the studies.

This is the latest potential concern regarding popular GLP-1s such as Ozempic, which mimic gut hormones to regulate blood sugar and reduce appetite. Demand for this class of drugs has soared despite high prices and a handful of unpleasant side effects, most commonly gastrointestinal, such as nausea and vomiting.

In a statement Monday, Novo Nordisk said that after a “thorough evaluation of studies” and an internal safety assessment, the Danish drugmaker is “of the opinion that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains unchanged.” The company added that patient safety is a top priority.

The studies, conducted independently by researchers at SDU and other institutions, both found that diabetes patients who used Ozempic were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with the disease as those who took another diabetes medication. diabetes.

The first Danish study was based on data from more than 400,000 diabetic patients, a quarter of whom were treated with Ozempic and the rest with other diabetes medications. The second study looked at data from more than 44,000 Danish diabetic patients who received Ozempic between 2018 and 2024 and almost 17,000 Norwegian patients who took the drug between 2018 and 2022.

The studies were posted on medRxiv, a website that publishes studies before they are reviewed by outside scientists. Both appear to confirm a link first suggested in a Harvard University study earlier this year.

Still, the authors of the first SDU study said the absolute risk of this disease among semaglutide users is low. They added that assuming the risk remains constant over time, the results indicate that a diabetic patient taking Ozempic for 20 years would have a 0.3 to 0.5 percent chance of developing NAION.

“Although our results do not exclude the possibility of an increased risk of NAION when using semaglutide for obesity, the low number of events observed suggests that any potential risk is likely of limited absolute magnitude.” , said the authors of the first study.

They added that additional, differently designed analyzes are needed to further determine whether Wegovy users, who take semaglutide for obesity, also have an increased risk of developing this disease.

For now, analysts are less concerned about NAION’s risk and its potential to reduce Ozempic prescriptions.

“Unless semaglutide proves to be the only GLP-1 to present this risk, prescribe [is] “This is unlikely to be affected,” TD Cowen analyst Michael Nedelcovych said in a research note Monday.

Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

If doctors have their way, telehealth is here to stay. That’s according to a new report from Doximity, which reveals that 83% of doctors would like telemedicine to remain “a permanent part of their clinical practice.”

Doximity runs a digital platform for healthcare professionals that has been compared to a LinkedIn for doctors. But users can do more than network and read news on Doximity, as the company also offers telemedicine tools such as voice calls and video calls.

Since the company has some stake in the game, Doximity released a report on Tuesday outlining the state of telemedicine in the United States and its role in healthcare delivery. It surveyed 1,171 of its physician telemedicine users and 131 of its nurse practitioner telemedicine users in August.

More than 77% of physicians surveyed reported using telehealth weekly, and 35% reported integrating the technology into their daily clinical practice. Nearly 90% of nurse practitioners report using telemedicine weekly, and 52% do so daily.

“Physicians’ strong support for telemedicine underscores its growing role in modern healthcare, with the potential to transform the way care is delivered in the years to come,” Doximity said.

Additionally, about two-thirds of physicians reported that telehealth had “improved patient outcomes” in their practice, particularly among neurologists, endocrinologists, and rheumatologists. Doximity found that endocrinologists, urologists, gastroenterologists, rheumatologists and neurologists were the top users of the technology, respectively.

The most common use of telemedicine in clinical practice is for follow-up visits, as 84% ​​of doctors said they would use the technology to conduct these appointments. Next, 60% of physicians reported using telehealth for medication management, 57% reported using it to discuss lab reports or test results with patients, and 52% reported using it to help patients to manage chronic diseases.

Half of doctors surveyed said telemedicine had improved patient adherence to treatment plans, up from 37% last year.

Nearly a third of doctors said the technology helped them treat more patients per day, and two-thirds said it helped them treat their patients better.

Read the full Doximity report here.

Feel free to send tips, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.