A field of Ozempic and contents sit on a desk in Dudley, North Tyneside, Britain, October 31, 2023.
George Frey | Reuters
Novo Nordisk traders appeared unperturbed Thursday by a essential Harvard report that linked weight reduction medicine to a uncommon eye situation.
Semaglutide, which is current in weight reduction medicine together with Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, is perhaps related to an elevated danger of a uncommon eye illness, in response to a study carried out by Harvard Medical College.
Analysts mentioned the examine outcomes have been “hardly a game-changer,” nonetheless. Shares within the Danish pharmaceutical firm’s shares have been little modified on Thursday, dipping in early morning commerce earlier than rising 0.1% as of 11:17 a.m. London time.
The Harvard report discovered that sufferers with sort 2 diabetes or weight problems, who’re prescribed semaglutide, have an elevated danger of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) — a situation which may result in lack of imaginative and prescient in a single eye. Sufferers have been extra prone to be recognized with the attention situation in comparison with sufferers who weren’t prescribed the burden loss medicine, the examine discovered.
Whereas the analysis paper does recommend “some correlation” with a uncommon ocular occasion, the standard of the proof is “vey low, the error bars are very large,” in response to Deutsche Financial institution analyst Emmanuel Papadakis.
The worst case situation would possible be an extra replace to the label warning part of the medicine, which is “hardly a game-changer,” mentioned Papadakis.
He added that Deutsche Financial institution usually regards semaglutide drugs as “one of the derisked therapeutic courses in trade historical past from a security perspective.”
A spokesperson from Novo Nordisk mentioned the optic nerve illness NAION will not be an “opposed drug response for the marketed formulations of semaglutide” as per the accredited labels. They added that there are “key methodological limitations” to the examine such because the “small variety of folks” with sort 2 diabetes or weight problems that have been uncovered to semaglutide and have been included within the trial.
“Affected person security is a high precedence for Novo Nordisk, and we take all studies about opposed occasions from use of our medicines very critically,” the spokesperson mentioned.
Recognition for the blockbuster medicine has seen Novo Nordisk develop to develop into probably the most priceless firm in Europe, with a valuation bigger than Denmark’s complete gross home product final 12 months.
Wegovy has additionally been proven to have well being advantages past shedding pounds and regulating blood sugar. The Meals and Drug Administration in March approved it to be used in lowering the chance of coronary heart illness.
The medicine, nonetheless, have confronted scrutiny after some sufferers reported experiencing stomach paralysis and suicidal ideation whereas taking them. A examine carried out by researchers on the College of British Columbia famous an elevated danger of bowel obstruction, a dysfunction the place meals is blocked from passing by means of the small or massive gut, and pancreatitis, or pancreas irritation.
The labels for the medicine already embody warnings about pancreatitis and certain types of bowel obstruction. A change in imaginative and prescient can also be listed as a possible aspect impact for each Ozempic and Wegovy.
The U.S. examine, which was revealed on Wednesday, analysed knowledge from 16,827 sufferers from December 2017 by means of to November final 12 months. The researchers famous that additional examine is required to evaluate whether or not semaglutide causes the attention situation.
CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to this report.
