Fewer than 10% of people that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy have access to them, caution the World Health Organization as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Per forecasts, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance acknowledges that obesity is a long-term condition that can be addressed with thorough and continuous support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are key hurdles to broad availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, says the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even in the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation urges nations and manufacturers to widen availability, by measures including licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Operate
These medications replicate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
People typically begin shedding pounds after several weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Studies indicates people may put most of the weight back on after a year of discontinuing the medication, when their usual hunger resume.
Being carrying excess weight raises your likelihood for experiencing health problems, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight impacts individuals in countries worldwide and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
