Less than a tenth of patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the global health agency as it issues its first guidance on the drugs.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
According to forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines affirms that obesity is a long-term condition that can be treated with comprehensive and continuous treatment," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major barriers to widespread availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, explains the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Despite the present best projected case, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The guideline urges governments and firms to increase availability, by strategies like licensing agreements.
A patent on semaglutide – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple nations in 2026.
The Way Obesity Drugs Work
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and boost feelings of fullness so individuals eat less.
People usually see weight reduction after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research indicates patients may see weight return a year later of discontinuing the medication, when their normal appetite come back.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for contracting diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
