Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, states the global health agency as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the drugs.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with thorough and lifelong support," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major obstacles to broad availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing substantial weight, explains the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Despite the present best projected case, the supply of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the WHO.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to widen access, via measures including voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on semaglutide – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Work
GLP-1 drugs replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and enhance the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
Individuals commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Studies indicates people may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the medication, as their typical food cravings resume.
To be carrying excess weight raises your risk for developing medical conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity affects people in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
