Fewer than 10% of people eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy can access them, states the WHO as it issues its first recommendations on the medications.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, more than two billion could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be treated with thorough and lifelong support," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to broad access to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, notes the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even under the present most favorable scenario, the production of GLP-1 therapies might only reach approximately 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The recommendation urges countries and companies to expand access, by strategies such as voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Work
These medications imitate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase feelings of fullness so people reduce food intake.
Individuals commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Studies suggests users may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the treatment, when their normal appetite return.
Being overweight or obese raises your likelihood for contracting health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight impacts people in all nations and was linked to over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
