Fewer than a tenth of individuals who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it releases its first guidance on the therapies.
Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
According to projections, over two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with holistic and ongoing support," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are key hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, explains the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the present most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The advice urges governments and firms to expand access, through approaches such as licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
People usually see weight reduction after several weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Evidence points to patients may regain a significant portion a year later of stopping the medication, when their typical appetite resume.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for experiencing diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
