Less than a tenth of people eligible to benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy have access to them, caution the World Health Organization as it releases its initial recommendations on the drugs.
Considering more than one billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
According to projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidelines recognises that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be treated with holistic and continuous care," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are major barriers to broad availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing significant body mass, notes the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even in the current most optimistic scenario, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The advice urges governments and firms to widen availability, via measures including patent sharing.
A patent on semaglutide – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.
The Way Obesity Injections Operate
The injections imitate a biological compound to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and boost feelings of fullness so people consume fewer calories.
People typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Studies suggests users may regain a significant portion within a year of stopping the treatment, because their normal appetite come back.
Being overweight or obese increases your chance for experiencing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity affects individuals in all nations and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
