Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy have access to them, warns the WHO as it issues its initial advice on the therapies.
With over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging broader and more equitable access to this class of drugs.
Based on forecasts, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our latest guidelines recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to universal access to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing significant body mass, explains the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Despite the present most favorable case, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to increase access, via strategies like licensing agreements.
A patent on semaglutide – the primary ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Function
These medications replicate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase feelings of fullness so people consume fewer calories.
Patients usually begin shedding pounds after several weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Evidence points to users may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the medication, because their typical food cravings resume.
To be above a healthy weight raises your likelihood for contracting health problems, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in all nations and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
