Under 10% of patients eligible to benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its initial guidance on the medications.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is advocating for increased and just availability to this class of drugs.
Per estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines recognises that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be treated with thorough and continuous treatment," stated WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, constrained manufacturing, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to universal availability to the jabs that can help people shift significant weight, notes the organization.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even under the current most favorable scenario, the production of such drugs would only suffice for about 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The guideline urges governments and firms to increase access, by approaches such as voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Function
These medications mimick a body's own hormone to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
People usually see weight reduction after several weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to people may see weight return after a year of halting the drug, as their normal appetite resume.
Being carrying excess weight elevates your risk for contracting diseases, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some cancers.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
