Less than one in 10 patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its first recommendations on the drugs.
With in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide currently obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on projections, more than two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and continuous care," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, explains the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis
Despite the present most optimistic case, the production of these medications would only suffice for about 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, according to the WHO.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to widen availability, through measures such as licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Function
These medications replicate a natural hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost feelings of fullness so individuals reduce food intake.
Patients usually begin shedding pounds after several weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Studies indicates people may put most of the weight back on within a year of discontinuing the drug, as their typical hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for experiencing health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain cancers.
Excess weight impacts people in countries worldwide and was responsible for 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
