Ozempic Lawsuit Update - 4,272 GLP-1 Cases Pending in Federal Court

Quick Facts

• MDLs active: MDL 3094 (gastroparesis) and MDL 3163 (vision loss/NAION)
• Total cases: 4,272 pending federal cases as of October 1, 2026 (JPML)
• Defendants: Novo Nordisk (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) and Eli Lilly (Mounjaro, Trulicity)
• Court: U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania
• Judge: Karen Spencer Marston
• Settlement: None - litigation is ongoing

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are facing more than 4,000 federal lawsuits over their GLP-1 diabetes and weight-loss drugs. Patients allege Ozempic and Wegovy caused permanent vision loss and severe stomach paralysis - conditions the drugs' labels allegedly failed to warn them about.

What Is This Lawsuit About?

Two separate multidistrict litigations are active in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, both before Judge Karen Spencer Marston.

MDL 3094 covers gastrointestinal injuries - primarily gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach empties too slowly, causing chronic nausea, vomiting, and in severe cases, inability to eat. As of October 1, 2026, this MDL had 4,025 pending cases, according to the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (JPML).

MDL 3163, the newer case, covers nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) - a type of sudden, often permanent vision loss. The JPML created this MDL on December 15, 2025, and it had 247 pending cases as of October 1, 2026. It covers Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda (Novo Nordisk) and Trulicity (Eli Lilly).

The core legal theory across both cases: failure to warn. Plaintiffs allege Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly knew - or should have known - these risks existed and didn't adequately disclose them to physicians or patients. Some complaints also allege deceptive marketing.

Who Is Involved?

Defendants in the litigation include:

• Novo Nordisk Inc. (U.S. subsidiary) and Novo Nordisk A/S (Danish parent), sued over Ozempic, Wegovy, and Rybelsus
• Eli Lilly and Company, named over Mounjaro and Trulicity

The JPML's orders describe these drugs as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs).

People filing suit are typically patients who developed gastroparesis or NAION during or after taking one of these drugs, and claim they weren't warned of those specific risks beforehand.

What's Happened So Far?

On August 15, 2025, Judge Marston ruled in MDL 3094 that the design defect claims, as pleaded, were preempted by federal law, while claims for negligence, fraud and breach of warranty could move forward. In a separate ruling the same day, she excluded plaintiffs' expert opinions that gastroparesis can be reliably diagnosed without a gastric emptying study.

The court set a Science Day in the NAION MDL for June 2, 2026, for both sides to give an overview of the science behind GLP-1 drugs and NAION. On July 2, 2026, Judge Marston granted early discovery and motion practice on two cross-cutting questions: general causation (whether GLP-1 drugs can cause NAION) and preemption/warning adequacy. Rulings on those issues could affect many cases in the MDL.

A study of 588,168 veterans with Type 2 diabetes, published in JAMA Network Open on April 30, 2026, found a 35% higher three-year NAION risk for GLP-1 users compared with SGLT2 inhibitor users, though the authors called the absolute risk low. Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration added NAION warnings to GLP-1 product information in July 2026. The UK's MHRA issued a semaglutide NAION safety update in February 2026.

What Should Affected Patients Do Now?

There's no settlement to file for. These are individual lawsuits, not a class action, so there's no claim form. People who were diagnosed with gastroparesis or NAION after taking one of these drugs may be able to file their own case.

Filing deadlines are set by state statutes of limitations and vary by state. Prescription records, treatment records and the timing of a diagnosis are the kinds of documents these cases rely on.

What Comes Next?

Under the court's August 27, 2026 scheduling order, expert reports in the NAION MDL are due in March and April 2027, expert depositions must be finished by June 4, 2027, and Rule 702 and summary judgment briefing runs through August 31, 2027. That schedule doesn't set any bellwether trials, and no settlement has been announced.

In bellwether trials, a small number of representative cases go before a jury to show how the evidence plays out.

Sources: JPML Pending MDL Dockets report (Oct. 1, 2026); JPML transfer orders in MDL 3094 and MDL 3163; MDL 3163 Case Management Orders 6, 12 and 14 and MDL 3094 rulings of Aug. 15, 2025, E.D. Pa., Judge Karen Spencer Marston; JAMA Network Open; TGA; MHRA; HarrisMartin; lawsuit-information-center.com.