Under one in 10 individuals that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy can access them, states the global health agency as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the therapies.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
According to forecasts, over two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with comprehensive and continuous support," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are major obstacles to universal access to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the body.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even in the present most optimistic outlook, the production of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, as stated by the health organization.
The advice encourages countries and companies to increase availability, via measures like patent sharing.
A patent on a key compound – the main component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Work
These medications mimick a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and enhance satiety so people reduce food intake.
Patients typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Studies points to people may put most of the weight back on a year later of halting the drug, as their usual food cravings resume.
Being carrying excess weight increases your likelihood for experiencing medical conditions, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
