Fewer than one in 10 patients who could benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy can access them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its initial recommendations on the medications.
Given in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is advocating for broader and more equitable access to GLP-1 medication.
According to projections, over two billion could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a chronic disease that can be managed with holistic and lifelong care," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are key hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, says the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Despite the current most favorable outlook, the manufacturing of such drugs might only reach around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation encourages countries and companies to widen access, by measures including voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
The injections imitate a natural hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so people eat less.
Individuals usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests users may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the medication, because their normal hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your risk for developing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some cancers.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
