The federal agency is requiring all GLP-1s to include information about the potential risk on warning labels
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a new warning on GLP-1 medications – which can facilitate weight loss – over a rare eye condition that could lead to sudden and permanent blindness.
On Monday, the FDA announced that it is requiring all GLP-1 medications – including Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound, as well as Sanofi’s Soliqua – to include information about the potential risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, also known as NAION, on warning labels.
NAION is a rare condition involving sudden reduction of blood flow to the optic nerve, in turn resulting in acute, painless, decreased vision in one eye, including permanent vision loss, the FDA warned.
Common risk factors of NAION include diabetes, smoking, hypertension, as well as hypercholesterolemia. It is the most common cause of acute optic nerve injury in individuals over 50 years old, with an annual average of 2.3 to 10.2 cases out of 100,000 people above that age. There is for now no treatment to reverse vision loss from NAION.
According to the FDA, the agency began looking at potential links between GLP-1s and NAION after a 2024 study published in the journal JAMA Ophthalmology.
