Less than a tenth of people who could benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it releases its first guidance on the therapies.
With more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is urging broader and more equitable availability to these injectable treatments.
Per estimates, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with thorough and continuous treatment," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant barriers to broad availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing substantial weight, explains the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even in the present most favorable case, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies might only reach around 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The guideline encourages nations and manufacturers to increase availability, by strategies such as licensing agreements.
A patent on a key compound – the primary component of a leading brand – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Work
The injections replicate a biological compound to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so people eat less.
People typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Studies points to people may see weight return within a year of stopping the treatment, because their typical appetite return.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for contracting medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
