A field of Ozempic and its contents sit on a desk in Dudley, North Tyneside, England, on October 31, 2023.
George Frey | Reuters
Novo Nordisk Buyers appeared unfazed Thursday by a significant report from Harvard College linking slimming capsules to a uncommon eye illness.
Weight-loss medication like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy comprise semaglutide, which can improve the chance of a uncommon eye illness, in line with one research. study Performed by Harvard Medical College.
Nevertheless, analysts mentioned the findings had been “hardly a sport changer.” Shares within the Danish pharmaceutical firm had been little modified on Thursday, falling in early commerce and rising 0.1% as of 11:17 a.m. London time.
The Harvard report discovered that sufferers with kind 2 diabetes or weight problems who took semaglutide had been at elevated threat of growing non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), a situation that may trigger blindness in a single eye. The research discovered that sufferers had been extra prone to be recognized with eye illness than these not taking weight-loss medication.
Deutsche Financial institution analyst Emmanuel Papadakis mentioned that whereas the analysis paper did present “some affiliation” with the uncommon eye occasion, the standard of the proof was “very low and the error bars had been very large.”
Papadakis mentioned the worst-case situation may very well be additional updates to drug label warnings, which might be “hardly a sport changer.”
He added that Deutsche Financial institution typically considers semaglutide medication to be “probably the most harmful therapeutic courses within the historical past of the business from a security perspective.”
Novo Nordisk spokesman says optic nerve illness NAION In line with the accredited labeling, this isn’t an “opposed drug response related to marketed semaglutide formulations.” They added that the research had “important methodological limitations,” similar to the truth that “a small variety of folks with kind 2 diabetes or weight problems” had been uncovered to semaglutide and included within the trial.
“Affected person security is Novo Nordisk’s high precedence and we take all stories of opposed occasions involving the usage of our medicines very severely,” a spokesperson mentioned.
The recognition of those blockbuster medication has grown Novo Nordisk into Europe’s Most worthy firm, with a valuation exceeding Denmark’s gross home product final 12 months.
Along with weight reduction and blood sugar regulation, Wegovy has been proven to have well being advantages. Meals and Drug Administration March officially recognized It’s used to scale back the chance of coronary heart illness.
Nevertheless, the medication have come below scrutiny after some sufferers reported the next signs: gastric paralysis and suicidal ideation whereas taking them. A research by researchers on the College of British Columbia famous an elevated threat of intestinal obstruction (a situation during which meals can’t move by the small or massive gut) and pancreatitis, or irritation of the pancreas.
The labels for these medication already comprise the next warnings: pancreatitis and some type intestinal obstruction. Imaginative and prescient adjustments are additionally listed as potential negative effects of Ozempic and Wegovy.
The US research, printed on Wednesday, analyzed knowledge from 16,827 sufferers between December 2017 and November final 12 months. The researchers famous that additional analysis is required to judge whether or not semaglutide causes eye illness.
CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to this report.
