WHO Sounds Warning Over Severe Scarcity of Weight-Loss Jabs
Less than 10% of people eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy are able to get them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its first advice on the therapies.
Given more than one billion people worldwide now classified as obese, it is urging more widespread and fairer availability to GLP-1 medication.
Based on estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be living with obesity by 2030 unless action is taken.
"The new guidelines affirms that obesity is a lifelong illness that can be treated with holistic and ongoing care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, insufficient output, and logistical bottlenecks are major barriers to widespread availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the organization.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even under the current most favorable outlook, the manufacturing of GLP-1 therapies could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the WHO.
The advice calls on governments and firms to expand availability, through approaches like licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on the active ingredient – the main ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in several countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Injections Function
The injections replicate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and enhance satiety so individuals reduce food intake.
Patients typically start to lose weight in the initial weeks of commencing the weekly injections.
Research suggests patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the treatment, when their usual food cravings resume.
Being overweight or obese increases your likelihood for developing medical conditions, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, per the health agency.
