WHO Raises Concern Over Critical Lack of Weight-Loss Medications
Fewer than 10% of people who could benefit from GLP-1 drugs including Wegovy can access them, warns the WHO as it releases its initial recommendations on the therapies.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide now classified as obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to this class of drugs.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with thorough and continuous treatment," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major hurdles to universal access to the treatments that can help people shift significant weight, explains the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Shortage
Despite the current most optimistic scenario, the production of such drugs could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The guideline urges governments and firms to widen availability, via strategies like patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
The injections mimick a biological compound to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so individuals reduce food intake.
People commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Studies suggests people may see weight return a year later of discontinuing the treatment, when their normal appetite return.
To be overweight or obese elevates your chance for developing diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
