Under 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it issues its inaugural guidance on the medications.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is calling for increased and just availability to this class of drugs.
Per projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with thorough and ongoing support," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are significant obstacles to universal access to the injections that can help people shift considerable body mass, says the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even in the present most optimistic scenario, the supply of GLP-1 therapies might only reach about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to widen access, via measures including voluntary licensing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the primary component of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
The Way Obesity Jabs Work
The injections mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and boost satiety so individuals eat less.
Individuals usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence suggests patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of discontinuing the treatment, because their normal food cravings resume.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your chance for experiencing diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was associated with millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
