Less than one in 10 people who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural guidance on the drugs.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Per forecasts, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and ongoing treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are key hurdles to broad availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis
Even in the present most favorable scenario, the supply of GLP-1 therapies might only reach around 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The recommendation urges governments and firms to expand availability, via strategies including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Work
The injections imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Patients typically start to lose weight after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to people may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the drug, as their typical hunger come back.
Being carrying excess weight increases your likelihood for experiencing health problems, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight impacts individuals in all nations and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
