World Health Organization makes U-turn on weight loss jabs

In a landmark decision, the World Health Organization (WHO) is poised to officially endorse the use of weight-loss drugs for treating obesity in adults, marking a significant shift in its strategy to combat this global health crisis.

A memo has revealed the WHO's plans, which also include calls for improved access to these treatments in low- and middle-income countries.

Obesity affects over a billion people globally, with approximately 70 per cent residing in low- and middle-income countries, according to WHO and World Bank data.

The new approach aims to address this disparity and provide more equitable access to effective treatments.

The drugs gaining attention, including Novo Nordisk's Wegovy and Eli Lilly's Zepbound, belong to a class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.

These medications mimic a naturally occurring hormone that regulates digestion and promotes feelings of fullness, leading to significant weight loss. Clinical trials have shown these drugs can help individuals lose 15 per cent to 20 per cent of their body weight.

The drugs have been launched in the United States and other high-income countries like Germany and Britain. But they can cost over £750 (US$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 ofdrugs, is already available as a lower-cost generic drug, with products approved in the US and Europe, the memo adds.