Less than one in 10 patients that would benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, states the World Health Organization as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the therapies.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide now obese, it is advocating for broader and more equitable availability to these injectable treatments.
Per projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and continuous care," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are significant hurdles to broad availability to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing substantial body mass, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Despite the present most favorable scenario, the supply of GLP-1 therapies might only reach approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, according to the WHO.
The advice encourages governments and firms to widen availability, by measures like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
The Way Obesity Drugs Function
GLP-1 drugs imitate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
People typically start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Evidence points to people may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the medication, as their typical appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight raises your risk for contracting health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Obesity impacts people in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
