Fewer than one in 10 individuals eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its first guidance on the drugs.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to this class of drugs.
According to estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The latest guidance recognises that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong care," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are major hurdles to widespread availability to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing considerable weight, notes the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Despite the current best projected scenario, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, according to the health organization.
The guideline urges governments and firms to expand access, through strategies including voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the main ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is due to expire in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so users eat less.
Individuals usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Evidence points to users may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the medication, because their normal food cravings return.
To be above a healthy weight increases your risk for contracting diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some cancers.
Obesity impacts individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
