Health
Edward Gillen “injected Ozempic believing that he was doing something to promote his health when, in fact, it had the opposite effect,” his complaint states.
A Dedham man is among a growing number of patients across the U.S. who are suing GLP-1 makers after taking the diabetes and weight loss drugs and suffering irreversible vision loss.
Edward Gillen alleges he lost vision in both eyes due to non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, or NAION, as a result of taking Ozempic between 2024 and 2025. He’s now “suffering from the devastating consequences of vision loss and will continue to suffer from the loss of vision for the rest of [his] life,” his lawsuit states.
Filed in a Pennsylvania federal court alongside more than 130 similar complaints, Gillen’s lawsuit names Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Ozempic, and takes aim at the pharmaceutical industry’s marketing of GLP-1s as supposed “miracle drugs.” Specifically, Gillen alleges he and countless other patients were “lured into a false sense of hope that GLP-1 [receptor agonists], such as Ozempic, would guarantee results and be efficacious and safe.”
Gillen, the lawsuit adds, “injected Ozempic believing that he was doing something to promote his health when, in fact, it had the opposite effect.”
Mass General Brigham ophthalmologist Dr. Joseph Rizzo likened NAION to a “stroke” of the optic nerve in a 2025 hospital blog post about the potential link between the condition and GLP-1s, given NAION occurs suddenly and painlessly, without warning.
Recent studies, including one Rizzo co-authored, have suggested a possible increased risk of NAION in patients taking certain GLP-1s. However, the American Academy of Ophthalmology cautions that the risk remains low and has yet to be definitively confirmed. In a clinical statement issued last May, the academy recommended patients take a collaborative approach and consult their care team — ophthalmologists, neurologists, primary care physicians, and endocrinologists, for example — when weighing the risks and benefits of starting or stopping GLP-1s.
Rizzo likewise suggested a measured approach to the drugs, which have exploded in popularity in recent years.
“To be perfectly clear, I would not take my findings and use them to recommend that patients stop taking their medications,” Rizzo said in the MGB blog post. “Our finding was really the first possible significant negative finding with these drugs. Our finding may just merit extra caution in the consideration between doctors and patients about who might use this medicine.”
Novo, the maker of Ozempic, for its part, said it believes personal injury lawsuits like the one Gillen filed are without merit.
“Patient safety is a top priority for Novo, and we take all reports of adverse events seriously,” said Liz Skrbkova, the company’s head of U.S. media and stakeholder relations. “We care deeply about the wellbeing of people who take our medicines and collaborate closely with health authorities and regulatory bodies worldwide.”
She said semaglutide, the GLP-1 drug sold under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, has a “well-established safety profile, supported by robust clinical development programs.”
Skrbkova also pointed to a pooled analysis of Novo’s semaglutide and liraglutide clinical trials, which was published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology earlier this year and did not show an increased incidence of NAION in patients receiving GLP-1s versus a placebo.
“Should emerging safety data warrant further action, appropriate measures will be implemented in accordance with regulatory requirements,” Skrbkova added. “Novo believes that the benefit-risk profile of semaglutide remains favorable.”
Still, she said the company recommends that all patients “maintain close contact with their healthcare professional for proper diagnosis, appropriate treatment, ongoing guidance, and careful monitoring.”
According to his lawsuit, Gillen maintains he would not have used Ozempic had he been told of the potential increased risk for NAION. He faults Novo for what he alleges were inadequate drug warnings.
The father of four and longtime state highway worker told Boston 25 News he wasn’t aware vision loss was a potential side effect until he suddenly lost his sight in the spring of 2025.
“I knew there were some [side effects]. Because you hear it on the commercials, you hear an advertiser, your doctor tells you them,” he explained. “But not this. Not this.”
Gillen turned to the Carroll Center for the Blind in Newton for adaptive skills toward independent living, according to Boston 25. Community members in Dedham also rallied around Gillen, starting a GoFundMe to help fund the “Coach BlindED Foundation” — an organization meant to help visually impaired individuals and support research into vision loss.
“Ed has always been the life of the party, bringing joy and energy wherever he goes,” the GoFundMe description reads. “Now, we are hoping to rally around him as he faces this new chapter.”
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