Less than 10% of patients that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its first recommendations on the therapies.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is urging increased and just availability to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with thorough and lifelong care," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are major hurdles to widespread availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Despite the current most optimistic case, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages countries and companies to expand access, by strategies such as voluntary licensing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Operate
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and boost satiety so people reduce food intake.
People usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence suggests users may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the drug, when their usual appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight raises your risk for experiencing health problems, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.
Obesity concerns individuals in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
