Fewer than a tenth of people who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it issues its first guidance on the drugs.
With over a billion people worldwide currently classified as obese, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to these injectable treatments.
Based on projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The latest guidance recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with holistic and lifelong care," remarked its chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are significant barriers to widespread availability to the jabs that can help people shift considerable body mass, notes the organization.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even in the current most favorable case, the supply of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of the global need, according to the health organization.
The guideline urges governments and firms to widen access, by strategies including licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on a key compound – the core ingredient of a leading brand – is scheduled to end in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Drugs Function
GLP-1 drugs replicate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, curb appetite and increase the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.
Patients commonly begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence indicates users may see weight return within a year of stopping the drug, because their typical hunger resume.
To be above a healthy weight elevates your risk for contracting health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and some malignancies.
Excess weight impacts individuals in countries worldwide and was linked to millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
