Ozempic blindness suits top 200 as Novo Nordisk spends DKK 11 billion on buybacks

A label with no mention of blindness

Maria David Patten, a Nevada woman, injected Ozempic▲+2.14% — Ozempic, up 2.14 percent today from August 2022 ¹. In October 2023 her sight failed suddenly ¹. Doctors diagnosed non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION), a blockage of blood to the optic nerve, and told her the loss was permanent; it kept worsening ¹.

On October 19 she sued Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of Ozempic, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for failure to warn and fraudulent concealment, seeking punitive damages, over a warning label her complaint↗ says still never mentions NAION ¹. The case joins the GLP-1 multidistrict litigation before US District Judge Karen Marston, where stomach-paralysis trials are expected to reach juries first ¹.

Europe relabeled in 2025; the FDA has not

The complaint says the eye's GLP-1 receptors were documented by 2016, the first optic-ischemic report dates to 2012, a semaglutide-specific case to 2019, and a July 2024 Harvard study found patients on Ozempic or Wegovy seven times more likely to develop NAION than patients on other treatments ¹.

Europe's medicines regulator concluded in June 2025 that NAION is a very rare side effect of semaglutide↗, up to one case in 10,000 and roughly double the risk in type 2 diabetes, and ordered the EU product information updated ². The FDA does not require NAION on the US label, and its Sentinel review of the signal is still open↗ ³. More than 200 NAION suits now sit in federal court↗ ⁴.

One cash engine, two claims on it

Novo has fallen more than 60% in two years↗ and trades near 12 times forward earnings against a 19.2 healthcare average, a discount the market explains with Eli Lilly▲+3.15% — Eli Lilly, up 3.15 percent today and a 2032 patent cliff, not courtrooms ⁵⁶.

On September 21 it promised five or more new blockbusters by 2030↗ and DKK 150 billion of pipeline sales by 2035; the stock fell 7.7%, with 2026 guidance for sales and operating profit down 6% to flat ⁶. Since February it has bought DKK 11.19 billion of its own stock↗, averaging DKK 277.78 a share, under a DKK 15 billion program ⁷.

What the defense does not price

Novo calls the US personal-injury suits without merit and cites 58 million patient-years of drug exposure ⁴; US eye societies say causation is unproven and the risk magnitude low ³. Both can hold and still leave the tail unpriced. The same quarterly cash engine that funds the buyback funds whatever the bellwethers award. The next readings are dated: Marston's trial schedule ¹, the FDA's Sentinel conclusion ³, and Novo's own quarterly report before the November 5 to 9 liver congress ⁹.