Ozempic Users Are Going Blind, and Now Theres a Second Mass Lawsuit

Federal Court Consolidates Vision Loss Claims

Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have helped millions of Americans shed pounds, but some patients paid a price nobody warned them about.

They woke up one morning and could not see.

Now, a federal court has created a second mass litigation against the makers of these medications, this one focused entirely on blindness.

The first lawsuit involves stomach paralysis.

This new one involves something far harder to ignore, and the science behind it has regulators around the world paying attention.

New MDL Created December 2025

On December 15, 2025, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation approved the creation of MDL 3163, consolidating federal lawsuits from patients who claim GLP-1 drugs caused them to go blind.

The new litigation covers Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and similar medications. This marks the second mass litigation against these popular weight loss and diabetes drugs.

About 30 vision loss cases were pending in federal court when the panel made its decision, with dozens more filed in state courts.

Same Judge Handles Both Cases

Judge Karen Marston in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania will oversee the new blindness litigation.

She already manages the existing GLP-1 mass litigation involving gastroparesis, which has about 2,947 pending cases as of December 2025.

The judicial panel noted significant overlap between the two litigations because they involve the same defendants, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, and similar questions about drug safety and warning labels.

Combining oversight under one judge should speed up pretrial proceedings.

Eye Strokes Cause Sudden Blindness

The lawsuits center on a condition called NAION, short for non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

Doctors sometimes call it an eye stroke. Blood flow to the optic nerve suddenly stops, damaging the nerve that sends visual signals to the brain.

Patients typically notice vision loss immediately upon waking, often describing dark shadows or cloudy spots in one eye.

The blindness is painless and usually permanent. About 15 percent of patients eventually develop NAION in their other eye too.

No Treatment Exists for NAION

Unlike many medical conditions, NAION has no cure and no proven treatment. Once the optic nerve is damaged, the vision loss cannot be reversed.

About 70 percent of patients remain stable after the initial event, while roughly 10 percent get worse over the following weeks.

Surgery has been tried and found to be ineffective, sometimes even harmful. Patients are left managing a permanent disability that affects driving, reading, and daily independence.

Harvard Researchers Sounded the Alarm

The connection between Ozempic and blindness first emerged at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in late summer 2023.

Neuro-ophthalmologists noticed three patients diagnosed with NAION in a single week, and all three were taking semaglutide.

Dr.Joseph Rizzo led a study published in JAMA Ophthalmology in July 2024 that analyzed over 16,000 patients.

Diabetes patients on semaglutide were more than four times more likely to develop NAION. Overweight patients had a sevenfold increased risk.

Europe Confirms the Side Effect

In June 2025, the European Medicines Agency concluded its review and officially recognized NAION as a very rare side effect of semaglutide.

The agency ordered Novo Nordisk to update product labels for Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus throughout Europe.

The EMA estimated the risk affects up to 1 in 10,000 patients taking the drugs for at least one year. If patients experience sudden vision loss, European guidelines now recommend stopping semaglutide immediately.

WHO Warns Doctors Worldwide

On June 27, 2025, the World Health Organization issued a global safety alert about the NAION risk.

The WHO emphasized that vision loss from this condition is generally irreversible and that no effective treatment exists. The alert urged doctors and regulatory authorities in all countries to be aware of the connection.

The organization noted it had received reports of NAION following semaglutide use from multiple countries through its global adverse event database.

American Labels Remain Unchanged

Despite warnings from European regulators and the WHO, the FDA has not required U.S. labels to include NAION as a potential side effect as of December 2025.

Ozempic’s American label mentions vision changes related to diabetic retinopathy but says nothing about the eye stroke condition at the center of these lawsuits.

Plaintiffs argue Novo Nordisk knew about the risk and chose not to warn American patients. Some medical professionals are now pushing for a black box warning.

Gastroparesis MDL Continues Growing

The original GLP-1 mass litigation, MDL 3094, focuses on stomach paralysis and intestinal blockages. That case has grown to nearly 3,000 pending lawsuits since consolidation in early 2024.

Patients in those cases claim the drugs caused severe vomiting, the inability to eat, and bowel obstructions requiring hospitalization.

Both litigations allege the same core problem: drug manufacturers failed to adequately warn patients about serious risks that were known or should have been known.

New Jersey Courts Join the Fight

Separate state-level litigations have been created in New Jersey, where Novo Nordisk has its U.S. headquarters.

In November 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court approved multicounty litigations for both vision loss and gastroparesis claims.

These state cases will proceed alongside the federal MDLs, giving plaintiffs multiple legal avenues. The concentration of cases in New Jersey reflects the strategic importance of suing a company in its home state.

Trials Expected to Begin in 2026

No global settlement has been reached in either litigation as of December 2025.

Legal experts project that severe blindness cases could command settlements exceeding $1 million each, while gastroparesis cases might settle between $400,000 and $700,000 depending on severity.

First bellwether trials, which will test evidence and set the tone for negotiations, are expected sometime in 2026.

The outcomes of those early trials will likely determine whether Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly choose to fight or settle.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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