Under 10% of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs including Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it releases its inaugural guidance on the medications.
With more than one billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for increased and just access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, over two billion could be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The new guidelines acknowledges that excess weight is a lifelong illness that can be managed with holistic and ongoing support," stated its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can aid individuals in losing significant weight, notes the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Supply Crisis
Even in the present most optimistic outlook, the supply of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation calls on countries and companies to widen access, by approaches like voluntary licensing.
A patent on semaglutide – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of nations in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Function
The injections replicate a natural hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and enhance satiety so individuals reduce food intake.
People commonly start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the weekly injections.
Research indicates patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the medication, when their normal food cravings come back.
Being carrying excess weight elevates your likelihood for experiencing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific cancers.
Excess weight impacts individuals in every country and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
