WHO Sounds Alert Over Severe Lack of Obesity Medications
Less than 10% of individuals that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its first advice on the therapies.
Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to these injectable treatments.
Per projections, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with comprehensive and continuous care," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are key obstacles to widespread availability to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even in the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The guideline encourages countries and companies to expand availability, through strategies such as patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
These medications imitate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and boost satiety so individuals eat less.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Studies indicates users may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the medication, when their normal hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for contracting health problems, like diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and some cancers.
Obesity impacts individuals in every country and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
