Less than a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy can access them, warns the global health agency as it issues its first guidance on the drugs.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines recognises that obesity is a chronic disease that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong treatment," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are key obstacles to universal availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, says the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even in the current most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, according to the WHO.
The guideline urges governments and firms to expand availability, by strategies such as patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Patients usually begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Research points to patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the treatment, as their typical appetite come back.
Being overweight or obese elevates your chance for developing diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in every country and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
