Fewer than 10% of patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its initial recommendations on the drugs.
With over a billion people worldwide now living with obesity, it is urging broader and more equitable availability to this class of drugs.
According to projections, more than two billion will be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our new guidelines recognises that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be treated with comprehensive and ongoing treatment," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are significant obstacles to broad availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing considerable body mass, notes the body.
Weight-Loss Drug Supply Crisis
Even under the present most optimistic outlook, the production of GLP-1 therapies could only cover about 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, as stated by the WHO.
The advice urges governments and firms to expand availability, by measures such as voluntary licensing.
A patent on the active ingredient – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is scheduled to end in a number of countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Operate
The injections imitate a natural hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase feelings of fullness so people eat less.
Patients commonly start to lose weight in the initial weeks of beginning the weekly injections.
Studies suggests patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the medication, when their normal food cravings return.
Being carrying excess weight increases your risk for developing diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and certain cancers.
Excess weight affects people in countries worldwide and was linked to over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.
