WHO backs GLP-1 treatments to tackle obesity epidemic

AFP | Geneva

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A range of blockbuster weight-loss and diabetes drugs could help shift the trajectory of the global obesity epidemic, which affects over one billion people worldwide, the World Health Organization said yesterday.

A new generation of appetite-suppressing drugs called GLP-1 agonists -- which includes blockbuster brands Ozempic and Mounjaro -- has become massively popular in recent years.

On Monday, the United Nations health agency issued its first guidelines on how such drugs could be used as a key tool for treating obesity in adults as a chronic, relapsing disease. More than 3.7 million people died from illnesses related to being overweight or obese in 2022, according to WHO figures -- more than top infectious killers malaria, tuberculosis and HIV combined.

The number of people living with obesity will double by 2030 unless decisive action is taken to stem the rise, the agency estimates.

“Obesity is one of the most serious public challenges of our time,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters from the agency’s Geneva headquarters.

“These new medicines are a powerful clinical tool, offering hope to millions.”

Not ‘a magic bullet’

The new guidelines call for GLP-1 therapies to be used by adults, excluding pregnant women, “for the long-term treatment of obesity”, which it defines as a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or higher.

WHO stressed that while the efficacy of the therapies in treating obesity was “evident”, it was issuing “conditional recommendations” for use since more data was needed on efficacy and safety over longer periods.

The agency also emphasised that the medication alone would not reverse the trend in obesity, which it recognised as a complex, chronic disease and a major driver of non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type2 diabetes and some types of cancer.

The new guidelines suggest the therapies could be coupled with “intensive behavioural interventions”, promoting healthy diet and physical activity, amid indications such shifts may enhance treatment outcomes.