Under a tenth of patients that would benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it releases its first advice on the drugs.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is urging increased and just access to this class of drugs.
Based on projections, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with comprehensive and ongoing care," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major obstacles to universal access to the injections that can assist patients in reducing significant weight, says the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present best projected scenario, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The guideline urges governments and firms to increase access, through approaches like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the main component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so individuals consume fewer calories.
Patients commonly see weight reduction within a few weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Research indicates people may put most of the weight back on a year later of stopping the drug, because their usual hunger return.
To be above a healthy weight increases your likelihood for experiencing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was associated with 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
