Fewer than 10% of people who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the WHO as it issues its initial advice on the medications.
With in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, more than two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The latest guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be treated with thorough and lifelong care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major barriers to universal availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, explains the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis
Even in the current best projected scenario, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The advice urges countries and companies to expand availability, by measures including licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on semaglutide – the primary component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
The injections mimick a natural hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so individuals reduce food intake.
Patients commonly see weight reduction in the initial weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Evidence points to people may put most of the weight back on a year later of stopping the medication, because their typical hunger return.
Being carrying excess weight elevates your chance for developing diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
