The World Health Organization is set to recommend weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound for treating obesity in adults, marking its first official backing of such medications and signaling a major shift in global health policy.
-The World Health Organization plans to officially back the use of weight-loss drugs to treat obesity in adults for the first time, a memo reviewed by Reuters on Thursday shows, marking a shift in its approach to treating the global health problem.
The UN agency also called for strategies to improve access to the treatment in low- and middle-income countries.
More than a billion people now have obesity worldwide, according to the WHO, and around 70% of them live in low and middle-income countries, the World Bank estimates.
The wildly popular obesity drugs - Wegovy developed by Novo Nordisk and Zepbound by Eli Lilly - are known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, which mimic the activity of a hormone that slows digestion and helps people feel full for longer. In clinical trials, people lost 15% to 20% of their body weight, depending on the drug.
The drugs have been launched in the United States and other high-income countries like Germany and Britain.
But they can cost over $1,000 a month, and studies suggest people may have to take the drugs for the rest of their lives to keep the weight off.
The WHO, Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk were not immediately available for comment.
The WHO's conditional recommendation will be officially released in August, as part of new guidelines on treating obesity. It is also working on separate guidelines for children and adolescents.
Separately, WHO experts will also meet next week to decide whether to include the GLP-1 drugs in the agency's essential medicines list - both to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes.
The WHO's essential medicines list is a catalogue of the drugs that should be available in all functioning health systems, and it can help make drugs more widely available in poorer countries, as experts say happened in 2002 when HIV drugs were included.
In 2023, the experts decided against adding obesity drugs to the list, with WHO saying more evidence was needed on their long-term clinical benefit.
However, in the new memo recommending their use as a treatment, the agency says it supports including them on the list this time round.
Still, the WHO also raises concerns over the cost of the drugs and calls for longer-term studies on cost-effectiveness "across all settings, including LMICs" (low- and middle-income countries).
"The same mechanisms that are used in large-scale medicine access programmes may need to be adopted," to improve access, the WHO adds, such as tiered pricing or pooled procurement.
But it also notes that the active ingredient in one of the newer drugs, semaglutide - used in Novo's Wegovy - comes off patent in some markets next year.
Several companies are planning to launch cheaper generic versions of the drugs then. Liraglutide, the active ingredient in the older generation of drugs, is already available as a lower-cost generic drug, with products approved in the U.S. and Europe, the memo adds.
China’s exports of rare earth magnets dropped sharply in May, plunging 52.9% from April to just 1,238 metric tons, their lowest monthly level since February 2020. The drop comes amid tightened export controls and growing customs scrutiny.
Severe flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in southern China has forced the evacuation of about 70,000 people, local media reported on Wednesday.
Former UFC lightweight champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev have landed in Baku ahead of Azerbaijan’s first-ever UFC tournament.
Kazakhstan will establish regional water risk management headquarters to address growing water challenges during the vegetation season, the government announced following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov.
A new freight route connecting eastern China to Azerbaijan via Turkmenistan has officially been launched, marking a significant expansion of the Trans-Caspian International Transport Corridor, also known as the Middle Corridor.
China’s exports of rare earth magnets dropped sharply in May, plunging 52.9% from April to just 1,238 metric tons, their lowest monthly level since February 2020. The drop comes amid tightened export controls and growing customs scrutiny.
China has unveiled a mosquito-sized bionic drone designed for covert military operations and battlefield reconnaissance, marking a major advance in micro-robotics and stealth technology as part of the country’s growing focus on next-generation warfare capabilities.
Severe flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in southern China has forced the evacuation of about 70,000 people, local media reported on Wednesday.
Former UFC lightweight champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev have landed in Baku ahead of Azerbaijan’s first-ever UFC tournament.
Kazakhstan will establish regional water risk management headquarters to address growing water challenges during the vegetation season, the government announced following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov.
Iranian missiles struck multiple locations across Israel and neighbouring regions early Friday morning, including a Microsoft office complex, according to emergency responders and local media reports.
Peace is no longer a dream. It is a discussion. On the streets of Baku and Yerevan, it is also a question, of trust, of foreign interests, and of who truly wants it.
Israeli strikes have reportedly targeted areas near the residences of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, according to the New York Times, citing local witnesses.
A high-speed tram derailment in central Gothenburg, Sweden, has left at least eight people injured late on Thursday (19 June), after the vehicle slammed into a snack bar on Avenyn Avenue.
The 2025 G7 Leaders’ Summit was held June 15–17 in Kananaskis, Alberta, under Canada’s presidency. Prime Minister Mark Carney framed the meeting around priorities of protecting communities, energy and climate security, the digital transition, and future partnerships.
China has successfully mastered the technology to produce Yttrium-90, a critical medical isotope used in radiation therapy for liver cancer, within a commercial nuclear reactor.
German biotech firm BioNTech (22UAy.DE), has agreed to acquire domestic peer CureVac, for about $1.25 billion worth of BioNTech shares, it said on Thursday, to boost its work on new mRNA-based cancer treatments.
Revolutionizing Heart Care: How Artificial Intelligence Powered Digital Twins Are Shaping the Future of Medicine
Researchers at the University of Miami have discovered 230 new giant viruses in global ocean waters, shedding light on their hidden role in marine ecosystems and their potential impact on public health.
Mayo Clinic researchers have validated a blood test's high precision for diagnosing patients with cognitive impairment.This non-invasive, cost-effective breakthrough, detailed in Alzheimer's & Dementia, offers much-needed hope for earlier intervention and better management.
China’s exports of rare earth magnets dropped sharply in May, plunging 52.9% from April to just 1,238 metric tons, their lowest monthly level since February 2020. The drop comes amid tightened export controls and growing customs scrutiny.
China has unveiled a mosquito-sized bionic drone designed for covert military operations and battlefield reconnaissance, marking a major advance in micro-robotics and stealth technology as part of the country’s growing focus on next-generation warfare capabilities.
Severe flooding triggered by heavy rainfall in southern China has forced the evacuation of about 70,000 people, local media reported on Wednesday.
Former UFC lightweight champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev have landed in Baku ahead of Azerbaijan’s first-ever UFC tournament.
Kazakhstan will establish regional water risk management headquarters to address growing water challenges during the vegetation season, the government announced following a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment