GLP-1 injury lawsuits against Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly reach 4,238 pending cases

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation's monthly statistics report shows 4,022 pending actions in MDL 3094, the federal proceeding over gastrointestinal injuries, and 216 pending in MDL 3163, the vision-loss track ^[2]. Together, 4,238 cases remain open.

Both proceedings are before Judge Karen S. Marston in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ^[1][2]. In MDL 3094, the defendants are Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ^[1]. The court's description of the litigation says the cases share common factual questions about whether Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus (all semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk) and Trulicity and Mounjaro (made by Eli Lilly) can cause gastroparesis and other gastrointestinal injuries, whether the companies adequately warned patients and prescribing physicians, and whether they made false or incomplete statements about safety ^[1]. Both companies deny the allegations ^[1].

The same report lists 4,056 actions filed in MDL 3094, which means 34 actions that were filed are no longer counted as pending; the report does not explain what happened to them, and that has not been reported. MDL 3163 shows 216 filed and 216 pending, so none of its cases have left the docket on the panel's count ^[2].

The docket has grown quickly. The August 1, 2026 count was 3,928 cases in MDL 3094 and 200 in MDL 3163, according to a law firm tracker that follows the litigation; the same tracker counted at least 26 new cases filed directly into the home court during the first weeks of August, 15 of them in a single week ^[2]. No case in either MDL has been settled and no verdict has been returned, the tracker states ^[2].

MDL 3094 was created on February 2, 2024, and was reassigned to Judge Marston on June 6, 2024 ^[2]. A ruling in August 2025 held that gastroparesis claims require an objective gastric emptying study, and earlier decisions narrowed the case so that it now proceeds mainly on a failure-to-warn theory ^[2]. MDL 3163, which covers NAION, a sudden vision condition, was created on December 15, 2025, on Eli Lilly's motion over the plaintiffs' opposition ^[2].

Why it matters for patients

The counts measure how many claims are pending, not whether those claims are correct. No court or jury has found that any GLP-1 medication caused a patient's injury, and no settlement has been reached in either federal proceeding ^[2]. For people taking these drugs, none of these filings changes what the current U.S. label says. According to the same tracker, the U.S. label had not been changed as of August 7, 2026, while European regulators added NAION as a "very rare" side effect in June 2025 and Australia followed in July 2026 ^[2].

Because the docket mixes cases at very different stages, a rising total does not by itself say anything about the strength of an individual claim. The tracker notes that whether any one person has a claim depends on their own medical records and the law of their state ^[2]. The August 2025 ruling on gastric emptying studies already shows how procedural decisions can narrow which cases move forward ^[2].

What happens next

• September 14–18, 2026: Judge Marston holds a Rule 702 evidentiary hearing, often called a Daubert hearing, on cross-cutting issues 2 and 3 in MDL 3094. Members of the public can watch remotely, but may not take part without the court's approval ^[1].
• The court holds monthly in-person status conferences with leadership counsel, also viewable remotely ^[1]. No date has been announced for a ruling from the September hearing ^[2].
• MDL 3163 is in early motion practice under Case Management Order 12, issued July 2, 2026 ^[2].
• New Jersey's Supreme Court designated two parallel state multicounty proceedings on October 16, 2025, in Bergen County before Judge Gregg A. Padovano ^[2].
• No bellwether trials have been scheduled in either federal MDL, and the panel's next monthly count has not yet been published ^[2].