Fewer than a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, states the global health agency as it issues its initial recommendations on the drugs.
Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is calling for broader and more equitable access to these injectable treatments.
According to projections, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The latest guidelines recognises that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and ongoing care," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant hurdles to broad availability to the treatments that can help people shift substantial weight, notes the agency.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even in the current most favorable scenario, the supply of such drugs might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The guideline urges countries and companies to increase availability, by measures like licensing agreements.
A patent on the active ingredient – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Work
The injections mimick a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and enhance the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
People commonly begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of commencing the regular doses.
Research indicates users may see weight return after a year of stopping the treatment, because their normal appetite resume.
To be carrying excess weight increases your chance for contracting diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was responsible for 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
