Fewer than 10% of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it releases its first guidance on the therapies.
Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 people worldwide now obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable access to these injectable treatments.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our latest guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with holistic and lifelong support," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to broad access to the injections that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, explains the organization.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Despite the present most favorable outlook, the supply of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The advice encourages governments and firms to widen availability, through strategies including licensing agreements.
A patent on the active ingredient – the primary ingredient of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and boost the sense of being full so people eat less.
Individuals commonly see weight reduction within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to people may see weight return after a year of stopping the treatment, because their usual appetite resume.
To be above a healthy weight raises your chance for developing medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was associated with 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
