The Global Health Body Raises Concern Over Severe Lack of Weight-Loss Medications

Less than a tenth of people who could benefit from GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy are able to get them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its first advice on the therapies.

With over a billion individuals worldwide currently obese, it is urging broader and more equitable availability to these injectable treatments.

Per projections, more than two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.

"The latest guidance recognises that obesity is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and lifelong treatment," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are significant barriers to broad availability to the injections that can help people shift considerable body mass, says the agency.

Skinny Jab Scarcity

Even under the current most favorable outlook, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.

The advice calls on governments and firms to expand availability, via strategies such as voluntary licensing.

Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.

The Way Weight-Loss Jabs Function

The injections imitate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and enhance feelings of fullness so individuals reduce food intake.

Patients typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.

Evidence suggests users may put most of the weight back on within a year of stopping the medication, when their normal appetite return.

Being carrying excess weight raises your risk for developing diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and certain malignancies.

Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.