Less than 10% of people that would benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy have access to them, warns the global health agency as it issues its inaugural guidance on the medications.
With more than one billion people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer access to these injectable treatments.
Per estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The new guidelines recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and ongoing treatment," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are significant hurdles to widespread availability to the injections that can help people shift substantial body mass, notes the body.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Even in the present most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies would only suffice for about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, according to the health organization.
The guideline encourages governments and firms to widen availability, through measures including patent sharing.
A patent on semaglutide – the primary ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.
How Obesity Jabs Operate
GLP-1 drugs replicate a biological compound to reduce digestion speed, suppress the appetite and enhance the sense of being full so users consume fewer calories.
People usually begin shedding pounds after several weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Research points to people may put most of the weight back on a year later of discontinuing the medication, as their normal hunger return.
Being overweight or obese raises your chance for developing diseases, like diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns individuals in all nations and was associated with 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
