Under a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections such as Wegovy have access to them, warns the global health agency as it issues its first recommendations on the therapies.
Given more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is calling for more widespread and fairer access to GLP-1 medication.
Per estimates, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"The new guidance affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with comprehensive and ongoing care," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and supply-chain constraints are major barriers to widespread availability to the jabs that can aid individuals in losing considerable weight, says the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even under the current most favorable outlook, the supply of these medications might only reach approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation urges governments and firms to increase access, via strategies like voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Function
GLP-1 drugs imitate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Patients commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Evidence points to users may put most of the weight back on a year later of stopping the drug, as their usual food cravings come back.
Being above a healthy weight raises your likelihood for developing health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Obesity affects individuals in countries worldwide and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
