Fewer than 10% of patients that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it releases its first advice on the therapies.
With in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Based on projections, over two billion could be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The latest guidance acknowledges that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong treatment," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are major obstacles to broad availability to the injections that can help people shift significant body mass, says the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Despite the present most optimistic outlook, the manufacturing of these medications could only cover approximately 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages nations and manufacturers to widen access, by approaches like voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Operate
These medications imitate a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and enhance satiety so individuals reduce food intake.
Individuals commonly start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Evidence indicates patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the drug, as their usual appetite return.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for contracting medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
