Less than 10% of patients that would benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy are able to get them, warns the World Health Organization as it publishes its initial guidance on the medications.
Considering over a billion people worldwide currently obese, it is calling for increased and just availability to these injectable treatments.
Per projections, over two billion will be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"Our new guidance affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be treated with thorough and continuous support," said the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are major hurdles to universal availability to the injections that can assist patients in reducing significant weight, notes the organization.
Skinny Jab Supply Crisis
Even under the current most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of these medications might only reach about 100 million people – fewer than 10% of eligible patients, per the WHO.
The advice calls on countries and companies to widen access, through strategies including licensing agreements.
Exclusive production rights on the active ingredient – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in several nations in 2026.
The Way Weight-Loss Injections Operate
GLP-1 drugs replicate a natural hormone to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and boost the sense of being full so people consume fewer calories.
Patients typically begin shedding pounds in the initial weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Studies suggests people may put most of the weight back on after a year of discontinuing the treatment, when their typical hunger return.
Being overweight or obese elevates your likelihood for experiencing health problems, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and certain cancers.
Excess weight concerns individuals in every country and was responsible for millions of deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the WHO.
