World Health Organization Issues Concern Over Critical Scarcity of Obesity Medications
Fewer than 10% of individuals that would benefit from obesity jabs like Wegovy have access to them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural guidance on the drugs.
With more than one billion people worldwide now obese, it is advocating for increased and just availability to GLP-1 medication.
Per projections, over two billion could be obese by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be addressed with comprehensive and lifelong support," said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Substantial prices, constrained manufacturing, and logistical bottlenecks are major hurdles to universal availability to the treatments that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the organization.
Skinny Jab Shortage
Even in the present best projected scenario, the supply of such drugs could only cover around 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation calls on governments and firms to expand availability, through approaches such as patent sharing.
A patent on a key compound – the core component of the drug Wegovy – is scheduled to end in multiple countries in 2026.
How Weight-Loss Jabs Operate
The injections replicate a body's own hormone to slow digestion, suppress the appetite and increase feelings of fullness so individuals eat less.
Patients usually start to lose weight after several weeks of beginning the once-weekly jabs.
Research suggests users may regain a significant portion a year later of discontinuing the drug, because their typical food cravings come back.
To be overweight or obese increases your chance for contracting medical conditions, like diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific cancers.
Excess weight concerns people in every country and was responsible for over three and a half million deaths worldwide in 2024, according to the health agency.
