Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy have access to them, states the World Health Organization as it publishes its initial advice on the medications.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide currently obese, it is calling for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
According to forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance affirms that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with thorough and lifelong care," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are significant hurdles to widespread availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing considerable weight, says the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even under the present best projected scenario, the production of GLP-1 therapies might only reach approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The recommendation urges countries and companies to widen access, through approaches such as patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Function
GLP-1 drugs replicate a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and enhance satiety so people eat less.
People usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Evidence indicates people may regain a significant portion after a year of stopping the drug, because their typical appetite resume.
To be overweight or obese elevates your chance for developing diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some cancers.
Obesity affects people in every country and was associated with millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
