Fewer than 10% of patients that would benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the WHO as it releases its first recommendations on the therapies.
With over a billion people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
Based on estimates, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be addressed with thorough and ongoing support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant obstacles to universal availability to the treatments that can assist patients in reducing significant weight, explains the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even in the current most favorable scenario, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the WHO.
The advice urges governments and firms to increase availability, by strategies such as licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs mimick a natural hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
Patients commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Studies indicates patients may see weight return a year later of halting the treatment, because their typical hunger resume.
Being carrying excess weight elevates your risk for contracting health problems, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
