Under one in 10 people who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it releases its initial guidance on the medications.
With more than one billion individuals worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The latest guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with thorough and ongoing support," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are major hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant weight, says the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis
Even in the current most optimistic scenario, the production of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to widen access, by approaches like voluntary licensing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Work
These medications mimick a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
People commonly see weight reduction in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence points to patients may see weight return a year later of discontinuing the drug, as their usual appetite come back.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your likelihood for developing health problems, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
