When Jay Vandegriff first struggled to see, he thought it was a smudge on his glasses. Then he realised he’d had an ‘eye stroke’ – and Ozempic may have been to blame

It was Christmas Day, two years ago, when Jay Vandegriff first noticed what he thought was a smudge on his glasses, obscuring the vision in his left eye.

The grandfather-of-three, who had been celebrating with his family, took them off to give them a clean. But when he put them back on, the smudge was still there.

That was when he realised the problem wasn’t with his glasses at all – it was his eyesight.

‘It was a bit like when you stare at the sun too long,’ he recalls. ‘But otherwise, I felt fine.’

By the following day, the smudge had grown larger and darker, prompting Jay, then 70, to seek medical help.

Doctors discovered he had suffered a rare type of ‘eye stroke’, known as non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION), which can cause sudden and permanent sight loss.

And over the following six weeks, Jay’s vision continued to deteriorate, until he had lost more than two-thirds of the sight in his left eye. Doctors told him the damage was permanent.

And, within months, Jay would learn something shocking: the Ozempic injections he had been taking for 18 months to treat his type 2 diabetes could have been responsible for his sight loss. 

Although it wasn’t fully understood then, it is now known the blockbuster drug, taken by millions of Americans, is linked to an increased risk of NAION, the very condition that had left him partially blind.

Today, Jay, from Idaho in the US, is among more than 100 patients taking legal action against Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk, alleging the company failed to warn them of the potential danger.

And yesterday, US health authorities announced that Ozempic and other diabetes and weight-loss injections, including Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, must carry new warnings about the risk of NAION.

The decision by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) follows similar warnings issued by Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in February, and European regulators last year.

Experts stress that the complication is extremely rare, and it has not been conclusively established that the drugs cause it.

But for Jay, who says the loss of his sight has left him feeling ‘dismembered’, the consequences have been devastating.

‘My vision loss was a sudden event, there wasn’t any graduality to it,’ he says.

Although he stopped taking Ozempic immediately on his doctor’s advice, his eyesight continued to worsen for another six weeks.

‘It took over two-thirds of the bottom portion of my eye,’ says Jay, who works in financial software.

‘It has been pretty frustrating, devastating really. I’ve had to buy a bigger screen to work because I start seeing double and I need to take breaks.’

His vision loss has also robbed him of much of his depth perception, making everyday activities difficult and sometimes dangerous.

A keen skier, Jay moved to Coeur d’Alene in northern Idaho decades ago partly because of its proximity to a ski resort.

But he now has to be far more cautious on the slopes.

‘I’m now restricted on when I can go skiing and can’t go if it’s cloudy or foggy, because I worry about my safety.’

His other passion, fly-fishing, has also suffered. He can no longer see well enough to thread a line through a fly.

And even simple tasks around the house have become a struggle.

‘I often get bruises because I end up walking into things,’ he says.

‘The other day I walked into my two-year-old grandchild because I didn’t see him. Even things like reading labels on food jars is impossible.’

Jay, who increasingly relies on his wife Susie, 69, for help, says strangers often fail to understand the difficulties he faces because there is no obvious sign of his disability.

‘I walk through a grocery store and bump into people because I don’t see them coming.

‘Sometimes they get mad, like “what’s wrong with you?”.

‘People said my brain would adjust but it never has. The little things add up, like I can’t even use a screwdriver now.’

He says he has been left depressed and angry by what happened, particularly because he believes he was never adequately warned about the possible risk.

‘If I had been warned it could affect my vision I wouldn’t have taken Ozempic in the first place,’ he says.

NAION occurs when the blood supply to the optic nerve, which carries visual information from the eye to the brain, is disrupted.

It typically causes a sudden, painless loss of vision in one eye, often appearing as a blurred, dark or missing patch.

Unlike some other eye conditions, the damage can be permanent, and there is currently no proven treatment capable of restoring the lost sight.

The condition can occur without any medication being involved, particularly in people with diabetes, high blood pressure or other health problems affecting circulation.

But a growing body of research has raised concerns that the widely prescribed diabetes and weight-loss injections could increase the risk.

In 2024, researchers reported that patients taking semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, were around four times more likely to develop NAION than those taking other diabetes treatments.

And a large analysis published in JAMA Network Open last year found that patients taking semaglutide or tirzepatide – the ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound – faced a 76 per cent higher risk than those using other diabetes medicines.

However, the researchers stressed that the overall likelihood of developing the condition remained low.

The FDA’s latest review, involving 126 clinical trials, estimated that around six people in every 100,000 taking the drugs for a year would develop NAION, compared with around four in every 100,000 taking a placebo or other diabetes medicines.

The findings prompted the agency to require new warnings on all drugs in the GLP-1 receptor agonist class, which work by mimicking a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar and appetite.

However, precisely why the drugs might increase the risk remains unclear.

Some scientists have suggested the rapid changes in blood sugar levels seen in patients taking the medications could play a role.

Complicating matters is the fact that people with type 2 diabetes are already considerably more likely to develop NAION, regardless of whether they take the injections.

And not all research has found an increased risk.

A company-funded analysis published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology found no increase in NAION among patients taking Novo Nordisk’s drugs compared with those receiving a placebo.

Nevertheless, regulators say the potential danger is serious enough to warrant explicit warnings.

The MHRA estimates that NAION affects between 11 and 82 people with type 2 diabetes per 100,000 each year.

It has advised patients taking semaglutide who experience sudden changes in their vision to seek urgent medical attention.

Meanwhile, the number of patients pursuing legal action over alleged sight loss continues to grow.

Danielle Gold, Jay’s legal representative, says her firm, Weitz and Luxenberg, has filed more than 100 similar cases against Novo Nordisk, with up to 150 more pending.

She described Jay’s injury as ‘very serious and life-altering’, adding that he is seeking compensation because the damage is permanent and has affected both his independence and ability to work.

‘US companies have an obligation to adequately warn people on the risks of their medications, and the injuries resulted, in this case, from a failure to warn,’ she says.

In Denmark, 27 patients who developed NAION after taking Ozempic or Wegovy have been awarded payouts totalling more than £1.1million.

However, Novo Nordisk said it was not involved in those cases and stressed that the compensation did not establish that its medicines caused the condition.

Similar lawsuits have also been filed against Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Mounjaro, although these are understood to be far fewer.

For Jay, the legal action is about more than compensation.

‘I look at myself in the mirror and I don’t look dismembered, but I feel dismembered,’ he says. ‘I want to let people know that there are potential side effects [to Ozempic and similar drugs] beyond what is currently being warned about.

‘I don’t want anyone else to go through what I’ve gone through.’

A Novo Nordisk spokesman said: ‘Novo believes the personal injury lawsuits filed in the US are without merit and is vigorously defending them.

‘Novo is aware of reports and epidemiological data concerning non-arteritic anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (NAION) in patients treated with semaglutide.

‘The available clinical, epidemiological and post-marketing data are being continuously assessed, and a causal relationship between semaglutide and NAION has not been established.

‘Patient safety is a top priority for Novo and we take all reports of adverse events associated with our medicines very seriously, collaborating closely with health authorities and regulatory bodies worldwide.’