Fewer than 10% of patients who could benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy are able to get them, caution the World Health Organization as it publishes its inaugural advice on the drugs.
With over a billion people worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for more widespread and fairer availability to this class of drugs.
According to estimates, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 if no action is taken.
"Our latest guidelines affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be addressed with comprehensive and ongoing care," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and logistical bottlenecks are significant hurdles to widespread access to the treatments that can help people shift considerable weight, explains the agency.
Weight-Loss Drug Shortage
Even in the present most optimistic case, the manufacturing of these medications could only cover approximately 100 million people – less than 10% of those who need them, per the health organization.
The guideline calls on governments and firms to increase access, by strategies like licensing agreements.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the main component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Work
These medications replicate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, reduce hunger and increase satiety so users reduce food intake.
Patients commonly begin shedding pounds after several weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.
Evidence indicates patients may put most of the weight back on a year later of stopping the treatment, when their usual hunger come back.
Being carrying excess weight raises your chance for experiencing medical conditions, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and specific malignancies.
Obesity concerns people in all nations and was associated with millions of fatalities worldwide in 2024, per the WHO.
