GLP-1 Drugs Show Potential Benefits — and Risks in Eye Diseases, reports review
A review published in BMC Ophthalmology has found that GLP-1 receptor agonists may help protect against ocular hypertension, glaucoma, late-stage diabetic retinopathy, and dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD). However, the drugs were also associated with a doubled risk of wet AMD, highlighting the need for further research into their ocular effects. The study was conducted by Yu Luo and colleagues.
To construct a well-structured, evidence-based consensus on the secondary effects of the drugs on the eyes, the researchers undertook an extensive search of pertinent scientific literature. The research team conducted an extensive review of premier international electronic databases, namely PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science, up until August 2025 starting from the first year of existence for each database. In particular, the researchers utilized specific medical indexing language and focused keywords like “GLP-1 receptor agonist,” “diabetic retinopathy,” “glaucoma,” “age-related macular degeneration,” “ocular disease,” and “neuroprotection.”
Moreover, the search approach was aimed at extracting relevant information from pre-clinical studies involving animal models, real-world observational studies of large cohorts, as well as post-hoc analysis of the findings of landmark multicenter clinical trials. Each selected study underwent two-tiered screening according to its title and abstract before full-text extraction was undertaken.
Key findings:
- Through the review of numerous large cohort study designs and data mining of electronic databases, a statistically significant inverse correlation was consistently revealed, proving a significantly lower incidence rate of glaucoma among individuals taking GLP-1RAs due to their powerful neuroprotective effects on the neurons of the retina.
- The results from the synthesis of the evidence related to the use of GLP-1RAs for diabetic retinopathy have shown a dual-stage process with the first one being associated with neuroprotection against the formation of microaneurysms and drop-out of capillaries, while the second stage implied a significant deterioration of retinopathy immediately after the optimization of blood sugar parameters.
- Concerning age-related macular degeneration, the synthesized evidence resulted in highly contrasting outcomes, while the effectiveness of therapy in protecting against the progression of non-exudative AMD was high, it posed an increased risk of exudative AMD.
From the above findings, GLP-1RAs prove to be an exciting prospect for use as disease-modifying treatment for neurological and inflammatory eye conditions through systemic and ocular mechanisms, constituting a paradigm shift from their metabolic uses. This exciting discovery demonstrates the potential for a class of drugs to treat systemic metabolic dysfunctions while safeguarding the neurosensory parts of the eye at the same time.
Reference:
Luo, Y., Xia, Y., Gong, X. et al. GLP-1 receptor agonists in eye disease: a comprehensive review of current research and future potential. BMC Ophthalmol 26, 12 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12886-025-04559-x
