Less than one in 10 individuals that would benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy can access them, caution the WHO as it publishes its inaugural advice on the medications.
Given more than one billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
According to forecasts, more than two billion could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance affirms that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with comprehensive and continuous treatment," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are major hurdles to widespread availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing considerable body mass, explains the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even under the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of these medications could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.
The advice encourages countries and companies to widen availability, via measures including patent sharing.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs imitate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so people reduce food intake.
Patients usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Studies indicates patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the drug, as their normal appetite come back.
To be above a healthy weight increases your risk for developing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain cancers.
Obesity impacts individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
