Less than one in 10 patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it releases its initial advice on the medications.
Given more than one billion people worldwide currently obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are major obstacles to universal availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, notes the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Despite the current most favorable case, the manufacturing of these medications would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The guideline encourages countries and companies to widen availability, via strategies like patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is due to expire in several countries in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Injections Operate
GLP-1 drugs replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost satiety so people reduce food intake.
Individuals usually see weight reduction in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence suggests users may regain a significant portion after a year of halting the medication, because their normal food cravings resume.
Being above a healthy weight raises your risk for contracting health problems, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
