Under a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it publishes its inaugural advice on the drugs.
With over a billion people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per estimates, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be managed with holistic and lifelong support," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are key hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Despite the current most favorable case, the supply of these medications would only suffice for about 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The guideline urges nations and manufacturers to increase access, through approaches like patent sharing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the primary ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and increase the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Individuals commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to patients may regain a significant portion after a year of halting the drug, as their typical food cravings come back.
Being above a healthy weight raises your risk for developing medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight affects people in every country and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
