GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have cornered the market on weight loss medications, even though they were developed to treat diabetes.
Their popularity – no doubt earned because of how easy they make it to shed pounds – has led to widespread use over the last several years. Data from a poll released by the American Medical Association shows roughly 12% of US adults have used a GLP-1 injectable.
Countless celebrities, including Sharon Osbourne and Amy Schumer, use Ozempic. They’ve become walking billboards for the drug, showing how well semaglutide medications such as these work for weight loss. But not everyone has had a good experience.
Numerous patients who used GLP-1 drugs developed severe gastrointestinal issues or completely lost their vision – serious health effects consumers allege they weren’t warned of, but that extensive research shows a strong connection to.
As a result, drug manufacturers Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are currently facing thousands of failure to warn lawsuits involving their weight loss drugs. And now, another health risk has emerged.
New research indicates Ozempic may cause scurvy. That’s right. The 16th through 18th century pirate disease has made a comeback in the US, and researchers believe its resurgence is due to GLP-1 drugs.
Research Links Scurvy to Ozempic, Wegovy
Several years ago, reports of dangerous side effects from semaglutide diabetes weight loss medications began being reported. Since then, many studies have been examining the connection between GLP-1 drugs and several serious illnesses and health effects, leading consumers to wonder if Ozempic is safe.
Recently, researchers at the Hunter Medical Research Institute and the University of Newcastle studied the long-term effects of GLP-1 drugs and sounded the alarm on another health issue patients were experiencing; they discovered that weight loss medications like Ozempic are linked to an increased risk of scurvy.
They also noticed a pattern in clinical trials of these medications. Studies fail to measure what patients are eating, and researchers say it’s dangerous to not collect this type of information. After all, how much you weigh isn’t the only factor when determining overall health.
How Could GLP-1 Weight Loss Drugs Cause Scurvy?
The connection between scurvy and GLP-1 drugs is considered an indirect link. This means that it isn't the ingredients it. Rather, how the weight loss drugs work could increase the risk of scurvy when taking Ozempic, even though the disease is rarely seen in developed countries.
The pills and injectables, including the newly available Wegovy obesity pill, suppress the appetite and slow digestion so that patients eat less.
But losing weight doesn’t mean the body is healthy, and researchers say what’s eaten – or not being eaten – is how Ozempic increases the risk of scurvy.
If a patient’s diet on GLP-1 drugs doesn’t contain enough vital nutrients, fiber, vitamins, or protein, scurvy isn’t the only health risk.
Cause and Dangers of Scurvy
Scurvy occurs when someone has a severe vitamin C deficiency. Since the body doesn’t naturally produce it, the best way to get it is through eating fruits and vegetables.
Vitamin C is crucial for healthy skin, bones, and connective tissue, such as tendons.
Symptoms of scurvy include bleeding gums, bleeding under the skin, and loose teeth. It can also cause extreme fatigue, joint pain, depression, and poor wound healing. If untreated, scurvy is fatal.
Given these and other dangers, patients who take GLP-1 weight loss drugs should know the risks. It’s important to speak with your doctor about what your diet should look like and seek medical care or advice if changes to your health or new symptoms occur.
Thousands of Ozempic, Wegovy Lawsuits Underway
The connection between scurvy and medications like Ozempic isn’t the only recent health risk discovered by researchers. This week, study results showed GLP-1 drugs may increase the risk of gout and osteoporosis.
Like all medications, there are possible adverse reactions. The most commonly reported side effects of Ozempic include nausea, stomach pain, constipation, vomiting, and diarrhea, and drug labels warn of possible thyroid tumors.
But the more than 3,000 dangerous drug lawsuits involving Wegovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro and Rybelsus aren’t about illnesses and health effects listed on product labels.
Instead, the current GLP-1 weight loss lawsuits allege Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly failed to warn of the risks of stomach paralysis (gastroparesis), intestinal obstruction, and permanent vision loss.
Allegations are backed by studies that show increased risks of blindness and several gastrointestinal illnesses among patients who used GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic. Such research and manufacturers’ failure to warn have been the driving force behind litigation and will no doubt be used as evidence as cases proceed.
Due to the number of plaintiffs and similarity of cases, most GLP-1 dangerous drug lawsuits were consolidated into multidistrict litigation (MDL) to streamline the legal process in December 2023. This MDL involves plaintiffs who suffered gastroparesis and other GI issues linked to Ozempic, and as of March 2026, included more than 3,300 cases.
Then, in December 2025, a separate GLP-1 vision loss MDL was formed. Plaintiffs allege the diabetes weight loss drugs left them permanently blind.
Whether Ozempic dangerous pharmaceutical lawsuits settle before court or will go to trial is unknown at this time, as litigation is in early stages. But the size of the mass tort is growing – and there’s been a significant surge since the fall.
There’s also a good possibility that more GLP-1 vision loss lawsuits will be filed this year as news of the litigation spreads. There may even be new lawsuits alleging other side effects on the horizon as other serious health effects are connected to Ozempic and similar medications.
