Under one in 10 patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, states the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural advice on the medications.
Given more than one billion people worldwide now obese, it is calling for increased and just access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on forecasts, in excess of 2,000,000,000 are projected to be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong treatment," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are major obstacles to universal access to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing substantial weight, explains the agency.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even under the current most optimistic outlook, the supply of GLP-1 therapies might only reach approximately 100 million people – under 10% of the global need, per the WHO.
The recommendation urges countries and companies to widen access, through measures like voluntary licensing.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of a leading brand – is due to expire in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate
GLP-1 drugs imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Patients typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Research points to patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the medication, when their typical appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight increases your likelihood for contracting health problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight impacts people in all nations and was responsible for 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
