Novo Nordisk shares ignore concerns over study linking weight-loss drugs to rare eye disease

Novo Nordisk investors were unimpressed on Thursday by a critical Harvard report that linked weight-loss drugs to a rare eye disease.

Semaglutide, which is contained in weight-loss drugs equivalent to Ozempic and Wegovy from Novo Nordisk, could also be linked to an increased risk of a rare eye disease, in accordance with a study conducted by Harvard Medical School.

However, analysts said the trial results were “hardly groundbreaking.” Shares within the Danish pharmaceutical company were unchanged on Thursday, slipping in morning trade and rising 0.1 percent at 11:17 a.m. London time.

The Harvard report found that patients with type 2 diabetes or obesity who’re prescribed semaglutide have an increased risk of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) – a condition that may result in lack of vision in a single eye. Patients were diagnosed with the attention condition more often than those that weren’t prescribed the weight-loss drugs, the study found.

Although the research suggests “some connection” to a rare eye event, the standard of the evidence is “very low and the margin for error very high,” said Emmanuel Papadakis, an analyst at Deutsche Bank.

The worst-case scenario would likely be one other update to the warnings on drug labels, but that may “hardly be a groundbreaking change,” Papadakis said.

He added that Deutsche Bank generally views semaglutide drugs as “one of the lowest-risk classes of therapy in the history of the industry.”

A Novo Nordisk spokesman said the optic nerve disease NATIONAL will not be an “adverse reaction for the commercially available formulations of semaglutide,” in accordance with the approved labels. They added that there have been “important methodological limitations” of the study, equivalent to the “small number of people” with type 2 diabetes or obesity who were exposed to semaglutide and included within the study.

“Patient safety is Novo Nordisk’s highest priority and we take all reports of adverse reactions related to the use of our medicines very seriously,” the spokesman said.

The popularity of its blockbuster drugs has made Novo Nordisk the most useful company in Europe; its valuation last yr was higher than Denmark's entire gross domestic product.

Wegovy also has health advantages beyond weight reduction and blood sugar regulation. The Food and Drug Administration approved it in March to scale back the chance of heart disease.

However, the drugs have come under fire after some patients reported experiencing stomach paralysis and suicidal thoughts while taking the drugs. A study by researchers on the University of British Columbia found an increased risk of intestinal obstruction, a condition during which food is prevented from passing through the small or large intestine, and pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas.

The labels of the medicines already contain warnings about Pancreatitis And certain types of intestinal obstruction. A change in vision can also be listed as a possible side effect of each Ozempic and Wegovy.

The US study, published on Wednesday, analyzed data from 16,827 patients from December 2017 to November last yr. The researchers identified that further studies are needed to find out whether semaglutide causes the attention disease.