Fewer than a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the global health agency as it publishes its initial advice on the drugs.
Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide currently obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to estimates, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidelines acknowledges that obesity is a chronic disease that can be addressed with holistic and lifelong support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant obstacles to broad availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, notes the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even under the current most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of such drugs would only suffice for around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The guideline calls on countries and companies to increase availability, via strategies such as licensing agreements.
A patent on semaglutide – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Work
These medications replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance satiety so individuals consume fewer calories.
Individuals typically see weight reduction in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence points to people may put most of the weight back on after a year of discontinuing the treatment, as their typical food cravings return.
To be above a healthy weight raises your likelihood for contracting health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
