Less than 10% of patients that would benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy have access to them, caution the World Health Organization as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the therapies.
With over a billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to this class of drugs.
Based on estimates, more than two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidance recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong care," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are key obstacles to universal availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing significant body mass, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present most favorable scenario, the supply of these medications would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The guideline encourages nations and manufacturers to widen availability, by measures including voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in a number of nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Work
These medications mimick a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
Individuals usually start to lose weight after several weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence suggests people may see weight return after a year of stopping the drug, when their usual hunger resume.
Being carrying excess weight raises your chance for contracting health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was associated with 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
