Less than a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its inaugural recommendations on the drugs.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for broader and more equitable access to this class of drugs.
Per projections, more than two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with thorough and ongoing treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant obstacles to broad availability to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even in the current best projected case, the production of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to widen access, via approaches such as licensing agreements.
A patent on the active ingredient – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
The injections replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so people eat less.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests patients may regain a significant portion within a year of stopping the medication, when their normal food cravings return.
Being above a healthy weight increases your chance for experiencing diseases, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
