The Global Health Body Sounds Alert Over Critical Scarcity of Weight-Loss Jabs

Fewer than a tenth of individuals eligible to benefit from weight-loss injections like Wegovy have access to them, warns the global health agency as it publishes its initial recommendations on the therapies.

Considering over a billion individuals worldwide currently living with obesity, it is advocating for broader and more equitable availability to these injectable treatments.

Per projections, in excess of 2,000,000,000 will be living with obesity by 2030 if no action is taken.

"Our new guidelines affirms that excess weight is a long-term condition that can be managed with thorough and continuous care," remarked the agency's head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Substantial prices, insufficient output, and distribution challenges are key barriers to broad availability to the treatments that can help people shift substantial weight, notes the agency.

GLP-1 Therapy Shortage

Even in the present most optimistic case, the production of GLP-1 therapies might only reach approximately 100 million people – fewer than 10% of those who need them, according to the WHO.

The advice calls on nations and manufacturers to increase access, via approaches like patent sharing.

The intellectual property rights on a key compound – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is set to lapse in a number of nations in 2026.

How Obesity Jabs Work

GLP-1 drugs replicate a biological compound to reduce digestion speed, curb appetite and increase satiety so users eat less.

Patients usually see weight reduction within a few weeks of starting on the once-weekly jabs.

Research suggests people may see weight return after a year of stopping the treatment, as their usual hunger return.

Being overweight or obese raises your chance for contracting health problems, like diabetes, cardiovascular issues, brain attack, and some malignancies.

Excess weight concerns individuals in countries worldwide and was associated with over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the health agency.