Fewer than one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its first recommendations on the drugs.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to these injectable treatments.
Per forecasts, more than two billion will be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The latest guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be treated with thorough and continuous support," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are key hurdles to broad availability to the treatments that can assist patients in reducing considerable body mass, says the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even in the present best projected outlook, the manufacturing of such drugs would only suffice for around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation encourages governments and firms to increase availability, through strategies like licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Work
GLP-1 drugs mimick a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and enhance satiety so users consume fewer calories.
People commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Research suggests people may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the drug, as their typical food cravings return.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your chance for developing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight impacts people in all nations and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
