Less than one in 10 patients that would benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it issues its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
With more than one billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidelines recognises that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and lifelong care," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to widespread availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing significant body mass, explains the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present most optimistic outlook, the supply of such drugs would only suffice for around 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The guideline encourages governments and firms to widen availability, through strategies such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the main component of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Operate
The injections mimick a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance satiety so individuals consume fewer calories.
People commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence indicates patients may regain a significant portion a year later of stopping the medication, when their typical appetite resume.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for experiencing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight affects people in countries worldwide and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
