Less than a tenth of people who could benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy can access them, states the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural guidance on the therapies.
Considering over a billion people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
According to forecasts, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance acknowledges that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with comprehensive and continuous treatment," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are major obstacles to broad access to the jabs that can help people shift significant body mass, says the body.
GLP-1 Therapy Scarcity
Even in the current most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach around 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, according to the health organization.
The advice calls on countries and companies to increase access, by strategies including voluntary licensing.
A patent on semaglutide – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
How Obesity Injections Work
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so users eat less.
People commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence points to people may regain a significant portion after a year of stopping the treatment, because their normal food cravings return.
To be carrying excess weight raises your chance for contracting diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.
Excess weight impacts people in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
