Four Danish patients have received compensation after developing partial blindness from Novo Nordisk's weight loss and diabetes medications. The Danish Patient Compensation Board approved payments totaling 800,000 kroner for vision damage linked to semaglutid-based drugs Wegovy and Ozempic.
Three patients took weight loss drug Wegovy while one used diabetes medication Ozempic. All developed the rare eye condition NAION, which causes permanent and irreversible vision damage. The compensation covers the first five cases out of 43 total claims filed by Danes who believe they suffered vision loss from these medications.
Karen-Inger Bast, director of the Patient Compensation Board, explained the complexity of these cases. "NAION is a serious disease causing permanent and incurable vision damage. These are very complex cases to assess because we're dealing with new medication, and patients were already in the risk group for developing NAION," she said in a statement.
The rare eye disease NAION has been connected particularly to Wegovy, which approximately 260,000 Danes have obtained prescriptions for since the weight loss drug entered the Danish market three years ago. NAION can cause both vision loss and visual field defects, creating permanent impairment for affected patients.
Medical authorities present conflicting information about the risks. The Danish Medicines Agency states that research suggests no increased NAION risk for patients who have taken Wegovy or Ozempic for more than 14 months without developing the condition. Yet recent studies prompted regulatory action.
Last December, the Danish Medicines Agency raised concerns with the European side effects committee after two major Danish registry studies showed a connection between NAION and semaglutid, the active ingredient in Wegovy, Ozempic, and Rybelsus.
Kurt Højlund, a diabetes professor at Steno Diabetes Center Odense who co-authored one of the key studies, offered cautious guidance. "We cannot yet with certainty identify patients with particularly high risk. However, treatment with Ozempic should be stopped if NAION is detected in one eye. The vast majority of patients can feel safe with Ozempic treatment since the absolute risk is so low," he noted last year.
Novo Nordisk initially denied any connection between NAION and their products. The company stated that available data sources didn't show a reasonable probability of a causal relationship between semaglutid treatment and NAION development, referencing examination of 52,000 patients at the time.
The European side effects committee later determined NAION qualifies as a rare side effect. On October 2, NAION was officially listed as a very rare side effect, meaning it's expected to affect fewer than 1 in 10,000 patients.
Risk factors for developing NAION include diabetes, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, and severe obesity, particularly when combined with type 2 diabetes. Danish law provides patients compensation rights for serious and rare medication side effects, even when they knew about the risks beforehand.
This legal framework means patients can still receive compensation for NAION even after the condition appears on official side effect lists. The compensation payments come from the state, specifically the Interior and Health Ministry, because they involve serious medication side effects.
The compensation decisions represent a significant development for pharmaceutical liability in Denmark. They establish precedent for how new medications with emerging side effect profiles will be handled within Denmark's patient compensation system. These cases also highlight the challenges regulators face monitoring new drugs as they reach mass market adoption.
For international readers, this situation demonstrates Denmark's robust patient protection systems. The country maintains strong social safety nets that include compensation for medication injuries, reflecting Scandinavia's comprehensive approach to healthcare and consumer protection. These cases may influence how other countries handle similar claims involving popular weight loss and diabetes medications.