Fewer than a tenth of individuals that would benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its first guidance on the drugs.
With more than one billion people worldwide currently obese, it is calling for more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per estimates, more than two billion will be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance affirms that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and lifelong treatment," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to broad availability to the jabs that can help people shift substantial body mass, explains the body.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even in the present best projected case, the supply of these medications would only suffice for around 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The advice encourages nations and manufacturers to widen access, through approaches such as patent sharing.
A patent on a key compound – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Function
GLP-1 drugs imitate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and enhance satiety so users eat less.
People typically begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of starting on the regular doses.
Research suggests patients may see weight return a year later of halting the treatment, because their normal food cravings resume.
Being above a healthy weight elevates your chance for developing diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers.
Excess weight affects individuals in all nations and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
