Novo Nordisk traders appeared unperturbed Thursday by a important Harvard report that linked weight reduction medication to a uncommon eye situation.

Semaglutide, which is current in weight reduction medication together with Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, is perhaps related to an elevated threat of a uncommon eye illness, in keeping with a examine carried out by Harvard Medical College.

Analysts mentioned the examine outcomes had been “hardly a game-changer,” nonetheless. Shares within the Danish pharmaceutical firm’s shares had been little modified on Thursday, dipping in early morning commerce earlier than rising 0.1% as of 11:17 a.m. London time.

The Harvard report discovered that sufferers with kind 2 diabetes or weight problems, who’re prescribed semaglutide, have an elevated threat of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) — a situation which may result in lack of imaginative and prescient in a single eye. Sufferers had been extra more likely to be recognized with the attention situation in comparison with sufferers who weren’t prescribed the burden loss medication, the examine discovered.

Whereas the analysis paper does recommend “some correlation” with a uncommon ocular occasion, the standard of the proof is “vey low, the error bars are very broad,” in keeping with Deutsche Financial institution analyst Emmanuel Papadakis.

The worst case situation would doubtless be an additional replace to the label warning part of the medication, which is “hardly a game-changer,” mentioned Papadakis.

He added that Deutsche Financial institution usually regards semaglutide drugs as “one of the derisked therapeutic courses in trade historical past from a security perspective.”

A spokesperson from Novo Nordisk mentioned the optic nerve illness NAION isn’t an “adversarial drug response for the marketed formulations of semaglutide” as per the authorized labels. They added that there are “key methodological limitations” to the examine such because the “small variety of individuals” with kind 2 diabetes or weight problems that had been uncovered to semaglutide and had been included within the trial.

“Affected person security is a prime precedence for Novo Nordisk, and we take all stories about adversarial occasions from use of our medicines very significantly,” the spokesperson mentioned.

Reputation for the blockbuster medication has seen Novo Nordisk develop to grow to be probably the most precious firm in Europe, with a valuation bigger than Denmark’s complete gross home product final yr.

Wegovy has additionally been proven to have well being advantages past shedding pounds and regulating blood sugar. The Meals and Drug Administration in March authorized it to be used in decreasing the danger of coronary heart illness.

The medication, nonetheless, have confronted scrutiny after some sufferers reported experiencing abdomen paralysis and suicidal ideation whereas taking them. A examine carried out by researchers on the College of British Columbia famous an elevated threat of bowel obstruction, a dysfunction the place meals is blocked from passing by means of the small or giant gut, and pancreatitis, or pancreas irritation.

The labels for the medication already embody warnings about pancreatitis and sure varieties of bowel obstruction. A change in imaginative and prescient can be listed as a possible aspect impact for each Ozempic and Wegovy.

The U.S. examine, which was printed on Wednesday, analysed knowledge from 16,827 sufferers from December 2017 by means of to November final yr. The researchers famous that additional examine is required to evaluate whether or not semaglutide causes the attention situation.

CNBC’s Jenni Reid contributed to this report.