WHO Sounds Concern Over Acute Shortage of Obesity Medications

Fewer than 10% of individuals eligible to benefit from obesity jabs such as Wegovy have access to them, caution the World Health Organization as it publishes its first advice on the drugs.

Considering more than one billion individuals worldwide now living with obesity, it is advocating for broader and more equitable access to these injectable treatments.

According to projections, more than two billion could be obese by 2030 unless action is taken.

"The new guidelines affirms that obesity is a chronic disease that can be managed with comprehensive and lifelong treatment," remarked WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Substantial prices, limited production capacity, and distribution challenges are key hurdles to universal availability to the jabs that can help people shift significant body mass, explains the agency.

Skinny Jab Supply Crisis

Even under the current most optimistic case, the manufacturing of such drugs could only cover about 100 million people – under 10% of eligible patients, according to the WHO.

The guideline encourages countries and companies to widen access, through measures such as licensing agreements.

A patent on semaglutide – the primary component of Novo Nordisk's Wegovy – is due to expire in multiple countries in 2026.

How Weight-Loss Injections Work

These medications imitate a body's own hormone to delay gastric emptying, suppress the appetite and increase the sense of being full so people reduce food intake.

People commonly begin shedding pounds within a few weeks of commencing the once-weekly jabs.

Evidence indicates users may put most of the weight back on within a year of halting the drug, when their normal food cravings return.

To be overweight or obese increases your chance for contracting diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, brain attack, and specific malignancies.

Obesity impacts individuals in countries worldwide and was responsible for over three and a half million fatalities worldwide in 2024, as per the WHO.