Under a tenth of patients who could benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the WHO as it issues its initial guidance on the drugs.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on projections, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidelines affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be addressed with holistic and continuous treatment," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major barriers to widespread availability to the injections that can help people shift substantial weight, notes the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Despite the present most optimistic scenario, the production of such drugs could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The advice encourages countries and companies to increase access, by approaches including voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the primary component of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Operate
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to slow digestion, curb appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so individuals eat less.
Patients usually see weight reduction after several weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to people may see weight return a year later of halting the drug, because their normal appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your likelihood for experiencing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was linked to 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
