Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it releases its first recommendations on the medications.
Given more than one billion people worldwide now obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with thorough and ongoing treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are major barriers to universal availability to the jabs that can help people shift considerable body mass, notes the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Despite the current most optimistic outlook, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The recommendation encourages countries and companies to widen availability, by strategies like voluntary licensing.
A patent on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
The Way Obesity Injections Function
These medications replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and increase satiety so people eat less.
Patients typically see weight reduction in the initial weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Evidence indicates people may see weight return a year later of discontinuing the drug, because their usual food cravings return.
To be overweight or obese elevates your chance for contracting diseases, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight affects people in countries worldwide and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
