“On Dec. 17, the European Medicines Agency announced that it will review two recently published Danish studies that found that Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic — brand name for semaglutide — significantly increases the risk of developing a condition called non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, more than doubling the likelihood.

NAION is a rare condition that causes a lack of blood flow to part of the optic nerve, which connects the eye to the brain. Without blood flow, the affected areas swell up, stop working correctly and start to die, resulting in severe vision loss or blindness, according to the Cleveland Clinic.  

The EMA said that previous evidence did not support the connection between the GLP-1 and NAION, but the new research raises concerns about the drug’s safety.”