Ozempic Gastroparesis Lawsuit Filed Over Nausea, Severe Abdominal Pain

More than 1,600 similar GLP-1 lawsuits have been filed over gastrointestinal problems associated with the new class of diabetes drugs, which double as weight loss treatments.

An Oklahoma woman says that after three years of using Ozempic, the popular diabetes treatment frequently used as a weight loss drug, she developed gastrointestinal side effects leading to her development of stomach paralysis.

Jessica Wilson filed her complaint (PDF) on March 28 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, joining hundreds of similar lawsuits over Ozempic-related gastroparesis. The cases have been consolidated in that court against Novo Nordisk and other manufacturers of GLP-1 receptor agonists, which are a class of drugs that includes Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound and others, alleging they cause severe gastrointestinal side effects.

Originally approved as a type 2 diabetes treatment, aggressive advertising promoting Ozempic (semaglutide) weight loss benefits has led to it increasingly being prescribed as a diet drug, which eventually resulted in a weight loss-specific version, Wegovy, also manufactured by Novo Nordisk.

Although promoted as safe and effective, with few long-term side effects, there have been a rising number of reports from users indicating they developed severe gastrointestinal issues such as stomach paralysis, or gastroparesis, after taking Ozempic and Wegovy.

Like Wilson, hundreds of former individuals are now pursuing Ozempic lawsuits and Wegovy lawsuits against Novo Nordisk, as well as Mounjaro lawsuits against Eli Lilly. Each of the claims present similar allegations that users developed painful and debilitating stomach problems, which could have been avoided if the drug makers had not provided false and misleading information to patients and the medical community.

According to her lawsuit, Wilson began using Ozempic in the fall of 2019 as a type 2 diabetes treatment. She received the injections for three years, until she began suffering from persistent and severe abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting in the fall of 2022.

After undergoing a gastric emptying test, Wilson was diagnosed with gastroparesis and ended her use of Ozempic. The lawsuit argues that Wilson’s injuries were due to Novo Nordisk consciously downplaying the drug’s potential adverse side effects.

“At all relevant times, Defendants knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known that the use of Ozempic could cause Plaintiff’s injuries and, thus, created a dangerous and unreasonable risk of injury to Plaintiff and other users of this product for which Defendants did not warn,” the lawsuit states. “Defendants knew or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known that users and consumers were unaware of the risks and magnitude of the risks associated with the use of Ozempic.”

Wilson presents claims of negligence, failure to warn, design defect, negligent misrepresentation and marketing, breach of warranty, fraudulent concealment, fraudulent misrepresentation, and violation of the Oklahoma Consumer Protection Act. She seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

April 2025 Ozempic Lawsuits Update

Given common questions of fact and law raised in complaints brought throughout the federal court system, Wilson’s Ozempic gastroparesis lawsuit will be centralized with all GLP-1 lawsuits as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, where they are currently being overseen by U.S. District Judge Karen Marston.

Before beginning a series of early “bellwether” test trials, Judge Marston has tasked the parties with resolving a number of “cross-cutting” issues, including whether claims are preempted by federal law, whether plaintiffs are required to present specific diagnostic testing evidence to substantiate their injuries, and whether there is sufficient general causation evidence linking Ozempic and the gastrointestinal injuries.

Once those factors are resolved, Judge Marston is expected to move forward with scheduling the bellwether trials, which will test how juries may respond to certain evidence and testimony that may be repeated throughout thousands of individual claims.

While the outcomes of these early test cases will not be binding on other claims, they will be closely watched and may help the parties negotiate GLP-1 settlements to resolve large numbers of lawsuits in the future.