Juanita Gantt, a 62-year-old mom in Pennsylvania is suing the drug maker of Ozempic and Wegovy as she almost died consuming the pills that were prescribed to her. She wasn't warned about the possible side effects of consuming this weight loss drug.
As she had diabetes and wanted to shed more than 20 pounds, the doctor prescribed her with trendy weight loss drugs.
She was initially prescribed Wegovy and then switched to Ozempic. Novo Nordisk, a popular pharmaceutical company, produced both the GLP-1 (or glucagon-like peptide-1) drugs.
According to Gantt, she initially felt fine for the first few months before her husband found her unconscious on October 2023.
“I had no warning that this was even a possibility,” she said in an interview on CBS News.
When she was taken to the hospital, the doctors found that sections of her large intestine died and they needed to be removed. As she was recovering from the surgery she went into cardiac arrest.
The health officials decided to call her daughter as they feared she could pass away. Her colon was removed as a result she must always use aN ileostomy bag.
This heartbreaking experience led Gantt to file a lawsuit against Novo Nordisk as there were no warning labels of the serious side effects caused by the consumption of the drugs like gastroparesis, stomach paralysis, and bowel obstruction.
The prescription drugmaker told CBS in a statement that “the allegations in the lawsuits are without merit” and that it will “vigorously defend against these claims.”
Novo Nordisk also said that these drugs have been through vigorous clinical trials and real-world evidence studies. These drugs were originally made for diabetes and not for weight loss and Ozempic warns us about the possible side effects of its consumption like changes in vision, low blood sugar, inflammation of the pancreas, allergic reactions etc. It was only FDA approved for treating type 2 diabetes and not for weight loss but doctors are prescribing it as an "off-label drug" as its popularly known to reduce your appetite.
It just should not have happened to me. If it happened to me, it could happen to you
Juanita Gantt
Gantt just wanted to create awareness about the consequences of using the drug.
References:
1) https://nypost.com/2024/09/05/lifestyle/pennsylvania-woman-juanita-gantt-claims-ozempic-nearly-killed-her/
2) https://www.cbsnews.com/news/weight-loss-drugs-labeled-risks-lawsuit/
3) https://news.gallup.com/poll/644861/injectable-weight-loss-drugs-uses-work.aspx
(Input from various sources)
(Rehash/Gayatri Prakasan/MSM)
