Less than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its inaugural guidance on the therapies.
Considering over a billion people worldwide now obese, it is urging broader and more equitable availability to this class of drugs.
Based on projections, more than two billion are projected to be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The latest guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and lifelong treatment," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are major obstacles to broad availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing considerable body mass, explains the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Despite the present best projected case, the production of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, per the health organization.
The advice urges nations and manufacturers to widen availability, via measures such as voluntary licensing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
The injections imitate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and increase satiety so individuals consume fewer calories.
Patients usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Studies points to people may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the drug, because their usual appetite return.
Being above a healthy weight increases your chance for experiencing health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
