Under one in 10 patients who could benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural recommendations on the medications.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Per estimates, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines affirms that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous support," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are key obstacles to widespread availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing substantial weight, notes the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the present most optimistic case, the supply of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages governments and firms to increase availability, through measures like patent sharing.
A patent on semaglutide – the main component of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Operate
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so people reduce food intake.
Individuals commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Evidence suggests users may put most of the weight back on within a year of discontinuing the drug, when their usual hunger resume.
Being overweight or obese raises your likelihood for experiencing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Obesity affects people in countries worldwide and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
