Less than 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, caution the global health agency as it issues its initial recommendations on the drugs.
Given more than one billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is urging broader and more equitable access to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, more than two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"Our new guidance affirms that excess weight is a chronic disease that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong treatment," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are key hurdles to universal access to the injections that can help people shift considerable weight, explains the agency.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Despite the current most favorable case, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the health organization.
The advice urges countries and companies to widen access, via approaches such as voluntary licensing.
A patent on semaglutide – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Operate
The injections replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and increase the sense of being full so individuals consume fewer calories.
Patients usually start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Research indicates users may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the medication, as their typical hunger come back.
To be carrying excess weight raises your likelihood for experiencing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain cancers.
Excess weight impacts individuals in all nations and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
