Less than a tenth of patients eligible to benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy can access them, warns the World Health Organization as it issues its inaugural recommendations on the therapies.
With over a billion individuals worldwide currently classified as obese, it is urging increased and just access to these injectable treatments.
Based on estimates, over two billion are projected to be living with obesity by 2030 without intervention.
"The new guidance acknowledges that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be treated with comprehensive and ongoing care," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Significant expense, constrained manufacturing, and supply-chain constraints are significant hurdles to universal access to the injections that can assist patients in reducing considerable weight, explains the body.
Skinny Jab Scarcity
Despite the present most optimistic scenario, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover approximately 100 million people – under 10% of those who need them, as stated by the health organization.
The recommendation urges governments and firms to widen availability, by approaches such as voluntary licensing.
The intellectual property rights on semaglutide – the core component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in multiple nations in 2026.
How Obesity Drugs Operate
These medications replicate a natural hormone to slow digestion, reduce hunger and increase feelings of fullness so users reduce food intake.
Patients usually see weight reduction after several weeks of beginning the regular doses.
Evidence indicates users may see weight return after a year of stopping the treatment, because their normal food cravings return.
Being overweight or obese raises your risk for contracting health problems, like diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and certain malignancies.
Obesity affects people in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.
