Fewer than 10% of patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy can access them, warns the global health agency as it issues its inaugural recommendations on the drugs.
Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
According to estimates, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be addressed with holistic and continuous care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to broad access to the jabs that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, explains the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Scarcity
Even in the current best projected scenario, the supply of these medications would only suffice for about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, according to the WHO.
The recommendation urges nations and manufacturers to increase access, through strategies including patent sharing.
The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Work
The injections imitate a biological compound to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and enhance the sense of being full so users consume fewer calories.
People commonly see weight reduction within a few weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research indicates users may see weight return within a year of discontinuing the medication, when their usual appetite come back.
To be carrying excess weight elevates your likelihood for contracting medical conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in every country and was linked to over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
