LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A Louisville woman claims a popular weight-loss drug prescribed to treat her type 2 diabetes nearly cost her her life.
WDRB investigative teams began looking into serious side effects from drugs like Ozempic and discovered thousands of others were suffering.
For Jacqueline Barber, it’s been a long health journey.
“I look at my sister and my dad and I know how upset they are. I look at me every week and I see me getting smaller and smaller,” Barber said, beginning to cry as she recounted the health issues she’s had.
In 2021, doctors prescribed Ozempic to treat Barber’s type 2 diabetes, but she said it caused a lot of complications and made it impossible for her to eat. All she could eat without throwing up was peanuts, peanut butter crackers and peanut butter cookies, Barber said.
“It’s very depressing to be lying on the couch, throwing up all the time, barely being able to walk or go anywhere,” she said. “I ended up losing 140 pounds. I was down to like 87 pounds and I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t move around, I couldn’t get off the couch. Nobody knew what was going on. Nobody made the connection between the two.”
Three years ago, drugs like Ozempic, Wegobi and Mounjaro were not popular weight loss drugs.
“I’d never heard of that drug before,” Barber said.
But now we see commercials for these drugs all over TV and social media.
Although Barber’s diabetes levels were now under control, complications caused her doctors to tell her to stop taking Ozempic after two years, in 2023.
“My stomach became numb,” she said. “I couldn’t hold anything in.”
Barber had gastroparesis, but she is not the only person to have experienced complications from taking weight-loss drugs.
“Gastroparesis is a condition in which food makes it down to the stomach but remains in the stomach instead of being emptied into the small intestine,” says John Oldham, MD, a bariatric surgeon at Baptist Health.
Oldham said patients taking weight-loss drugs should be closely monitored.
“You have to make sure you’re on this treatment through your doctor, you have follow-ups, blood tests to make sure the medicine is working well,” he said. “On average, with Ozempic and Wegovi, you see a 15 percent weight loss.”
Mr Oldham said the drug has benefits and could help with cardiovascular and kidney disease.
“But we haven’t seen rare diseases like thyroid tumors or cancer,” he says, “which we saw in rodents when the study was published.”
Oldham said the drugs would not be prescribed to patients with a history of thyroid problems.
“The biggest side effect of this medication is nausea,” he said, adding that the nausea only lasts for a few hours, so be sure to contact your doctor if it persists for a long period of time.
Oldham said doctors often see patients in the emergency department with complications from weight-loss drugs.
“As I was leaving the hospital to come here today, I was briefed on a patient who came into the emergency room this morning. She took her second dose of Munjaro and just three hours later she was complaining of abdominal pain and bloating,” he said. “Her CT scan actually showed that she had a blockage at the gastric outlet, meaning her stomach was full of food and preventing it from elimination.”
There have been several other cases of complications, he said.
“We did an investigation a few days ago and the patient died of necrotizing pancreatitis. The patient was taking Maunjaro and Zepbound but we don’t know if the medicines caused the pancreatitis,” Oldham said, adding that most people can be cured of pancreatitis without dying.
“I have one patient who I’m doing gastric bypass with, and she has gastroparesis,” he says. “She was on medication in the fall, but she only took it for a month, and now she has severe gastroparesis that’s not responding to anything.”
Barber’s lawyer, Andrew Van Arsdale, said: AVA Law GroupHe said he currently represents 213 patients with similar issues in Indiana and Kentucky.
“We know that roughly 3 percent of the U.S. population takes this drug, and it’s concerning that we’re seeing a sharp increase in serious gastrointestinal problems among people taking this drug,” Van Arsdale said.
Seventeen of those cases are in the Louisville area. Van Arsdale’s lawsuit against Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic, and makers of similar drugs represents more than 2,000 patients across the country, including thousands who he said are suffering from side effects from the drugs.
“I believe there are over 10,000 known cases nationwide at this point, and unfortunately that number is growing every day,” he said. “The lawsuit is all about getting pharmaceutical companies who are aware of these risks to provide appropriate warnings to consumers.”
Van Arsdale said of his more than 2,000 clients, 60 percent are taking the medication to lose weight and 40 percent for diabetes.
“Each manufacturer of drugs in this category needs to do more,” he said.
WDRB’s investigation heard from several other patients who experienced similar side effects after taking the popular weight-loss drug.
A Prospect woman said she was prescribed Wegoby to lose weight, but it caused intestinal problems that led to major surgery.
“I started taking Wegobi about two and a half years ago when I was suffering from severe back pain,” said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous. “My pain management doctor told me it was all because of my weight (220 pounds) and that if I didn’t lose weight immediately, I would be in pain for the rest of my life.”
“My doctor prescribed Wegovi. There were no warnings or explanations, just a prescription. I started taking it and experienced the “normal” side effects (nausea) that were listed on the package.”
The side effects led to major complications that ultimately required surgery, she said.
“Going from 220 pounds to 146 pounds and back to 220 pounds in two years has really taken a toll on my body and my mind,” she said. “I want doctors to see their patients. I want them to know that this is a medication that they have to take for the rest of their lives or the weight will come right back on. I want them to know that this medication can cause loss of appetite. I want them to know that this medication can destroy the colon.”
“I have to continue taking Ozempic, but I’m hoping to switch to another medication. I’ve lost almost 40 pounds since I started taking it about a year and a half ago,” Jada Kimbro of Murray, Kentucky, told WDRB News.
Jada Kimbro shared a photo of what she looked like before taking Ozempic.
“I haven’t been hospitalized like some others. I had a gastroparesis test and an endoscopy last year and was told both were fine. However, I would like to add that the disease has also caused a lot of muscle wasting. I used to be a very athletic person and sometimes it feels like my muscles are wrapping around my bones, especially in my legs and hips,” Kimbro said.
Jada Kimbro shared this photo of what she looked like after taking Ozempic.
Rose Dougherty of Winchester, Kentucky, said she had similar complications that sent her to the emergency room.
“Since taking Ozempic, I’ve been feeling pretty sick with nausea and diarrhea,” Dougherty said. “I’ve had to go to the emergency room because I was dehydrated, and I still get sick pretty often.”
The lawsuits against Ozempic and the other pharmaceutical companies are currently being consolidated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
“These people are making a lot of money prescribing this drug to anyone they can get their hands on,” Van Arsdale said. “There is an obligation to do more to warn people about the dangers of this drug.”
Van Arsdale said the lawsuit is a class action and the standard for damages is different than in class actions.
“When we look at these cases, we have to look at each plaintiff and give compensation or reparation depending on how severe the drug has affected them. That’s why it’s called Mas Torte,” he said.
“Anyone starting to take this drug today doesn’t understand the risks of gastroparesis because the drug company failed to provide adequate warnings, and we want the company to fix that,” Van Arsdale said. “We want a trial as quickly as possible and evidence to show why the drug company knew about these risks and why they should be held accountable for failing to prevent this from happening to Jacqueline and others.”
Novo Nordisk declined to be interviewed on camera but released the following statement to WDRB News:
“Novo Nordisk believes that the allegations in these lawsuits are without merit and intends to vigorously defend itself against these claims.”
“Patient safety is a top priority for Novo Nordisk and we work closely with the US Food and Drug Administration to continuously monitor the safety profile of our medicines. GLP-1 medicines have been used to treat type 2 diabetes (T2D) for more than 18 years and obesity for eight years. This includes Novo Nordisk GLP-1 products such as semaglutide and liraglutide, which have been on the market for more than 13 years. Semaglutide has been thoroughly investigated in a robust clinical development program, large-scale real-world evidence studies and has more than 9.5 million cumulative patient-years of clinical experience.
“The known risks and benefits of semaglutide and liraglutide medicines are described in the FDA-approved product labeling. Novo Nordisk guarantees the safety and effectiveness of all GLP-1 medicines when used as directed and taken under the supervision of a qualified healthcare professional.”
“This drug has been on the market for several years, and all of a sudden the label was updated because so many people were having their gallbladder removed as a result of taking this drug,” Van Arsdale said. “We’re asking them to do the same for gastroparesis.”
WDRB News also reached out to Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Maunjaro, for comment but did not receive a response.
Barber is now gaining weight and receiving the nutrients she needs through an IV when she is unable to spit food out.
“I’ve had this PICC line for a year,” she said, showing me her arm.
Barber also had a gastric stimulator implanted, a device to treat stomach muscle problems.
“These are my vitamins and nutrients,” she said, showing me the IV bag, “This has carbs, fats and protein.”
Barber said a nurse came to her home every week, and at one point she was on a feeding tube.
“I hope the pharmaceutical companies have to change this drug,” she said. “If this drug is that good and it works for the entire obese population, that’s great, but please tell people what’s going to happen. Please work to make a better drug.”
“We’re not calling for this drug to be taken off the market,” Van Arsdale added, “we’re not saying it’s not a great drug. We’re just saying we want consumers to be able to make an educated decision.”
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