FDA Adds Warning to Ozempic Label About Risk for Blocked Intestines

WEDNESDAY, Sept. 27, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Ozempic, a type 2 diabetes drug that has increasingly been used to help with weight loss, will now be labeled as having the potential to block intestines.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently made the label update for the drug made by Novo Nordisk, without directly citing Ozempic as the cause for this condition.

"Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure," the label reads.

The side effect, known by the medical term “ileus,” is also listed on labels for the weight-loss drug Wegovy, also made by Novo Nordisk, and in the diabetes medication Mounjaro, made by Eli Lilly, CBS News reported.

Both Ozempic and Wegovy are known generically as semaglutide. Among more than 8,500 reports of gastrointestinal disorders after using semaglutide medications through June 30, ileus is mentioned in 33 cases, including two deaths, CBS News reported.

The two pharmaceutical companies that make these medications are both being sued for claims that the drugs can cause a similar health issue known as gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis, CBS News reported.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more on ileus.

SOURCE: CBS News