The Global Health Body Issues Alert Over Critical Scarcity of Weight-Loss Jabs
Under one in 10 people who could benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy are able to get them, caution the WHO as it publishes its inaugural advice on the drugs.
Considering over a billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for increased and just availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per estimates, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with comprehensive and continuous care," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even under the current most optimistic case, the production of these medications might only reach about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The guideline encourages nations and manufacturers to expand availability, via approaches such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
The injections replicate a biological compound to slow digestion, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so users reduce food intake.
People usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Studies suggests users may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the drug, when their typical appetite return.
To be overweight or obese elevates your risk for experiencing medical conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight affects people in all nations and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
