The Global Health Body Sounds Concern Over Acute Scarcity of Obesity Jabs

Less than a tenth of patients who could benefit from weight-loss injections including Wegovy have access to them, caution the WHO as it releases its inaugural recommendations on the medications.

Considering in excess of 1,000,000,000 individuals worldwide currently obese, it is advocating for increased and just access to these injectable treatments.

Per estimates, in excess of 2,000,000,000 could be obese by 2030 without intervention.

"The latest guidance recognises that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with thorough and ongoing support," stated the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

High costs, limited production capacity, and supply-chain constraints are major obstacles to broad availability to the treatments that can aid individuals in losing substantial weight, says the body.

GLP-1 Therapy Shortage

Even under the current best projected outlook, the supply of GLP-1 therapies could only cover around 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.

The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to increase access, through strategies including licensing agreements.

A patent on a key compound – the core ingredient of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple countries in 2026.

How Weight-Loss Drugs Operate

These medications imitate a biological compound to delay gastric emptying, reduce hunger and increase the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.

Patients usually start to lose weight within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.

Studies points to patients may put most of the weight back on after a year of halting the drug, when their typical hunger come back.

To be carrying excess weight elevates your risk for experiencing health problems, such as diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and some malignancies.

Excess weight concerns individuals in all nations and was linked to 3.7 million fatalities worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.