GLP-1 Drugs: Weight Loss and Diabetes Medications Linked to Safety Concerns

GLP-1 drugs are prescription medications often used to treat Type 2 diabetes and help with long-term weight management. Technically, they’re called GLP-1 receptor agonists because they work by affecting a hormone pathway that controls your blood sugar and appetite. 

You may know these drugs by brand names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound. FDA-approved options include medicines with semaglutide, liraglutide and dulaglutide, as well as tirzepatide products that affect both GIP and GLP-1 receptors.

For example, both Ozempic and Wegovy contain semaglutide, but Ozempic is approved for Type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy is for long-term weight management. Similarly, Mounjaro and Zepbound both contain tirzepatide but are approved for different primary uses.

The list of GLP-1 medications below can help you find a drug you have used or are thinking about using. Each medication may have a different brand name, active ingredient, form and FDA-approved use.

Injectable GLP-1 Drugs

Most of these drugs are injected under the skin with a prefilled pen. Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound and Trulicity are usually taken once a week. Saxenda and Victoza are generally taken once a day.

Doctors may prescribe these injectable medicines to manage blood sugar, support long-term weight management or for another FDA-approved reason, depending on the product and the patient’s needs.

Oral GLP-1 Drugs

Rybelsus and Wegovy Pill are oral GLP-1 drugs that contain semaglutide as their active ingredient.

The Wegovy Pill is a once-daily tablet for weight management and reducing cardiovascular risk in adults. Rybelsus is also a once-daily tablet prescribed to help improve blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes, along with diet and exercise.

Unlike the injectable GLP-1 drugs, you take Rybelsus and Wegovy pills by mouth on an empty stomach with water before eating, drinking or taking any other medicine in the morning.

GLP-1 medications often cause digestive side effects. If you take drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound, Trulicity, Saxenda, Victoza or Rybelsus, you might notice temporary symptoms that can start when you begin treatment or after your dose goes up. These tend to disappear as you adjust to your dose.

Side effects are mild for some people, but may be more extreme or harder to manage for others.

Most people who have nausea, constipation or other digestive side effects while taking a GLP-1 medication don’t develop serious health problems. But don’t ignore severe, ongoing or worsening symptoms.

Pay special attention if these symptoms make it hard to eat, drink or go about your daily life or if you notice a sudden change in vision. GLP-1 drugs can slow digestion, and FDA-approved labels for some products say they shouldn’t be used by people with severe gastroparesis, when the stomach empties food too slowly.

If you notice any worrying symptoms after taking a GLP-1 drug, reach out to a health care professional right away. Sudden or severe symptoms might need urgent or emergency medical attention.

Stomach Paralysis (Gastroparesis)

Gastroparesis, also known as stomach paralysis, happens when the stomach doesn’t empty properly. Someone with this condition might feel full after eating only a small amount, experience nausea or vomiting, feel pain or bloating in the abdomen or have trouble keeping food and drinks down. These symptoms can resemble common GLP-1 side effects, making it hard to tell when something more serious is going on.

A 2023 research letter published in JAMA found that GLP-1 drugs were associated with an increased risk of gastroparesis, pancreatitis and bowel obstruction compared with bupropion-naltrexone, another weight management medication.

In September 2023, the FDA updated Ozempic’s prescribing information to include ileus, a type of intestinal blockage, on the list of possible side effects reported after the drug was released. Reports submitted after a drug is on the market don’t prove the medicine caused a specific problem, but they can lead to label changes and additional safety checks.

Vision Loss

Some reports and medical studies have raised concerns about serious vision problems in people taking certain GLP-1 medications. NAION, which stands for nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy, is a rare eye condition sometimes attributed to these medications. NAION happens when blood flow to the optic nerve decreases. The condition can cause sudden, painless vision loss. Some people have called it “Ozempic blindness,” claiming in lawsuits that GLP-1 drugs are responsible for NAION.

A 2024 study in JAMA Ophthalmology found a link between semaglutide prescriptions and NAION in patients with Type 2 diabetes, or those who are overweight or obese. The researchers stressed that their findings don’t prove that semaglutide causes this condition and that more research is needed.

Following reports of serious side effects, the FDA revised the safety information for certain GLP-1 medications. In June 2026, the FDA added “acute pancreatitis and necrotizing pancreatitis, sometimes resulting in death” to semaglutide labels. But the agency said it could not establish a causal relationship between the medication and the conditions.

In September 2023, the FDA added ileus — an intestinal blockage — to the list of possible side effects associated with Ozempic. However, this update does not indicate that Ozempic caused every instance. It merely informs both doctors and patients that intestinal blockage has been reported following semaglutide use.

The FDA also cautions individuals about unauthorized compounded and counterfeit GLP-1 products marketed as alternatives to approved medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound. The FDA does not evaluate compounded drugs for safety, effectiveness or quality before they’re sold. The FDA has received reports of dosing errors and other issues involving compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide. It also warns that counterfeit Ozempic might contain the wrong ingredient, the wrong amount of the active ingredient, no active ingredient at all, or even harmful substances.

You may find it hard to access brand-name GLP-1 medications due to insurance coverage and out-of-pocket costs. As a result, some people turn to more affordable alternatives. For instance, in 2024, North Carolina’s State Health Plan discontinued coverage of weight-loss drugs because of rising costs, although it still covers these drugs for individuals who need them for diabetes.

You may qualify for a GLP-1 lawsuit if you took Ozempic or other GLP-1 drugs and developed gastroparesis or have been diagnosed with NAION vision loss. Plaintiffs generally allege that drugmakers did not adequately warn patients and health care providers about these potential risks. The manufacturers dispute the claims, and the cases remain unresolved.

Thousands of people have filed lawsuits over GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. Most of these cases are grouped together in a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in a federal court in Eastern Pennsylvania, with more than 4,000 GLP-1 gastroparesis lawsuits filed there. There are also over 200 blindness lawsuits in Pennsylvania federal court.

You don’t have to live in Pennsylvania to file a GLP-1 lawsuit. MDLs allow similar cases from across the country to be combined in a single court, making the legal process more efficient. MDLs are often used in lawsuits for drugs and medical devices.

As of October 2026, cases were pending in the federal MDL involving gastrointestinal injuries. More than 200 more were pending in a separate federal MDL involving alleged NAION (nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy), a type of vision loss, in September 2026. No trials or settlements had been finalized at the time.