Under 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy have access to them, states the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural advice on the therapies.
Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is urging broader and more equitable availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidance acknowledges that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and continuous treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are major obstacles to universal availability to the injections that can help people shift considerable body mass, explains the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Even under the present best projected scenario, the supply of these medications would only suffice for about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The advice encourages countries and companies to widen access, via measures including patent sharing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
These medications imitate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and increase satiety so individuals consume fewer calories.
Patients usually begin shedding pounds after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the medication, when their typical hunger come back.
Being above a healthy weight raises your risk for developing health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
