FDA Orders New Vision Loss Warning for Ozempic and Other GLP-1s

If you’re one of the millions of Americans currently taking a GLP-1 drug like semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy), listen up: The Food and Drug Administration is officially warning users about a rare but serious vision-robbing condition linked to the products. On Monday, the FDA stated that semaglutide and other GLP-1s on the market carry a potential increased risk of non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION. The agency is now mandating that all GLP-1 makers add a warning disclosing this risk to their labeling. Though both doctors and patients should be aware of the possible side effect, NAION appears to be a rare complication of GLP-1 use, the FDA says. The NAION connection NAION is caused by decreased or stopped blood flow to the optic nerve, which can then lead to sudden and painless vision loss in the eye. Though people may recover some vision, the structural damage caused by an episode of NAION is typically permanent, and people who have NAION in one eye are more likely to later develop it in the other. While the exact causes of NAION are unclear, people over the age of 50 and with high blood pressure seem to be more susceptible to it. In recent years, eye doctors have also started to notice a possible increase in NAION cases among people taking a GLP-1. Health officials in Europe eventually began a formal investigation into this suspected connection, which the FDA did as well. The FDA analyzed past observational studies, clinical trial data, and post-market safety data, all of which pointed to a consistent increased risk of NAION associated with GLP-1 use. Its review of the animal data, however, failed to uncover a likely explanation as to why GLP-1 drugs can raise the risk of NAION. What to take away from this new warning NAION is the most common cause of acute optic nerve damage among adults over 50. That said, it’s rare overall, with an estimated 6,000 new cases in the U.S. annually. And GLP-1 use doesn’t seem to raise this risk much in absolute terms. According to the FDA’s review of 126 clinical trials, which covered multiple GLP-1 drugs, 6.4 cases of NAION were found per every 100,000 people taking a GLP-1 over a year’s time, compared to 3.8 NAION cases among 100,000 non-GLP-1 users. In June 2025, health officials with the European Medicines Agency similarly determined that the GLP-1 semaglutide can cause NAION but also concluded it was a “very rare” side effect that may affect up to 1 in 10,000 people taking the drug. All of which is to say that people should definitely be on the lookout for any vision changes while taking a GLP-1, and they should report those changes to their doctor as soon as they can. At the same time, it’s fortunately not a frequent issue. “If a patient has had a NAION event, they should talk with their health care professional about whether to continue taking their GLP-1 RA medication or to stop it,” the FDA said in its drug safety communication published Monday.