Fewer than a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy can access them, warns the WHO as it releases its initial recommendations on the drugs.
Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for increased and just availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to projections, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The new guidance affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with holistic and lifelong care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major hurdles to broad availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant body mass, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present most favorable outlook, the supply of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to widen access, by approaches such as patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Work
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so people consume fewer calories.
Individuals typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Research points to people may see weight return a year later of stopping the treatment, because their normal appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight increases your chance for contracting medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.