Fewer than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its first advice on the medications.
With more than one billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable access to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and ongoing treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing substantial weight, notes the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the current most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of these medications could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to increase availability, by measures including voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.
The Way Obesity Jabs Function
The injections mimick a natural hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Patients usually see weight reduction within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Research indicates users may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the medication, as their usual hunger return.
Being overweight or obese increases your chance for experiencing medical conditions, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Obesity affects people in all nations and was linked to over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
