Less than 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy are able to get them, states the global health agency as it issues its inaugural advice on the medications.
Given in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is calling for broader and more equitable availability to these injectable treatments.
Based on projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our new guidance recognises that obesity is a long-term condition that can be addressed with thorough and lifelong support," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are major obstacles to broad access to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, explains the organization.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even in the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies might only reach approximately 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The guideline encourages countries and companies to expand access, by strategies such as voluntary licensing.
A patent on a key compound – the primary component of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Work
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
People commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Studies points to users may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the medication, as their usual food cravings return.
Being carrying excess weight raises your chance for experiencing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was linked to millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
