{"id":605480,"date":"2025-12-01T15:09:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:09:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/605480\/"},"modified":"2025-12-01T15:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-01T15:09:12","slug":"who-says-weight-loss-drugs-are-new-chapter-in-fight-against-obesity-obesity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/605480\/","title":{"rendered":"WHO says weight loss drugs are \u2018new chapter\u2019 in fight against obesity | Obesity"},"content":{"rendered":"

Weight loss drugs such as Mounjaro offer huge potential to tackle soaring obesity globally that will affect 2 billion people worldwide by 2030, the World Health Organization<\/a> has said.<\/p>\n

Their proven effectiveness in helping people lose weight means the medications represent \u201ca new chapter\u201d in how health services can treat obesity and the killer diseases it causes, the WHO added.<\/p>\n

Its statement urged countries to do what they could to ensure that people who would benefit from glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) therapies could access them. But while eligible adults generally should get them, pregnant women should not use them, the WHO stated.<\/p>\n

It also warned that pharmaceutical companies would have to lower the prices they charge for Mounjaro, Ozempic and similar drugs and hugely expand production of them to avoid people in the world\u2019s poorer countries being denied them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile medication alone won\u2019t solve this global health crisis, GLP-1 therapies can help millions overcome obesity and reduce its associated harms,\u201d said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO\u2019s director general.<\/p>\n

The WHO set out its thinking on the drugs for the first time in a \u201cspecial communication\u201d aimed at health professionals.<\/p>\n

\u201cGLP-1 therapies mark more than a scientific breakthrough. They represent a new chapter in the gradual conceptual shift in how society approaches obesity \u2013 from a \u2018lifestyle condition\u2019 to a complex, preventable and treatable chronic disease,\u201d its statement in the Journal of the American Medical Association said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGLP-1 therapies \u2026 have emerged as an important innovation in addressing the global obesity challenge. The advent of these medications represents a tipping point in the treatment of obesity, its complications and related co-morbidities.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, limits on global production capacity mean that now only at most about 100 million people could receive the drugs \u2013 only 10% of the 1 billion who could benefit \u2013 it adds. The number of people deemed obese \u2013 based on a body mass index of 30 or more \u2013 is due to double from 1 billion to 2 billion by 2030, and the costs worldwide to hit $3tn by the same date, it warned.<\/p>\n

Drug firms should consider \u201ctiered pricing\u201d \u2013 charging poorer countries less \u2013 in order to achieve the dramatic expansion in access that the deepening global crisis demands, the WHO said.<\/p>\n

The WHO\u2019s statement was written by three leading doctors: Francesca Celletti, Luz De Regil and Jeremy Farrar, its assistant director for health promotion and disease prevention and control, who was previously its chief scientist and also the director of the Wellcome scientific institute in London.<\/p>\n

It stressed that the drugs on their own were not enough to reverse obesity and that people using them should also eat more healthily, exercise more and have counselling about their lifestyles.<\/p>\n

The WHO accepts the growing evidence that GLP-1s can help reduce the risk of a range of serious and potentially fatal events and conditions including heart attacks and strokes, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, bad cholesterol, sleep apnoea and kidney and arterial disease.<\/p>\n

Three \u201cmajor barriers\u201d must be overcome to ensure that everyone globally whose health would benefit from GLP-1s can get them: lack of production capacity, availability and affordability; health systems\u2019 preparedness to provide them; and universal access to healthcare.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeight loss drugs have an important role to play, but they are not a silver bullet,\u201d said Katherine Jenner, the executive director of the Obesity<\/a> Health Alliance, a coalition of more than 50 health, medical and children\u2019s organisations in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the UK right now, access is still limited, supply is fragile, and NHS use is tightly targeted. These powerful medicines can help individuals with chronic obesity, but they are not suitable for everyone and must be accompanied by comprehensive support to be used safely and effectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvidence shows that most people regain weight once they stop taking these drugs, and we cannot medicate two-thirds of the population indefinitely\u201d, added Jenner.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Weight loss drugs such as Mounjaro offer huge potential to tackle soaring obesity globally that will affect 2…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605481,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-605480","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115644948142483906","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605480\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605481"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}