Less than 10% of patients that would benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, states the World Health Organization as it releases its first advice on the medications.
Given over a billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is calling for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidance affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and ongoing treatment," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
High costs, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are major barriers to universal availability to the jabs that can help people shift significant weight, notes the agency.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Despite the present best projected outlook, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of the global need, as stated by the health organization.
The advice encourages countries and companies to widen access, by strategies like voluntary licensing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Operate
These medications replicate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so individuals eat less.
Individuals typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Evidence points to patients may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the drug, when their usual hunger come back.
To be overweight or obese elevates your chance for developing diseases, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain cancers.
Excess weight affects people in all nations and was associated with millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
