March 31, 2023 – The World Health Organization may, for the primary time, add weight-loss drugs to the list of essential medicines it recommends that countries around the globe purchase.
The WHO revises the list of “essential medicines” every two years, with the following list to be published in September. Three doctors and a researcher from the United States have sent a suggestion to the WHO committee that finalizes the list, asking them to think about the drug Saxenda, in accordance with Reuters.
It is unclear how the committee will reply to the decision to make use of drugs to treat obesity.
“We believe this is an ongoing project,” WHO nutrition director Francesco Branca MD, PhD, said at a press conference on Wednesday, in accordance with Reuters.
Branca said the drug's cost should be taken under consideration and that it might not have been in use long enough to make the list. Saxenda could soon be sold as a generic, Reuters reported.
“At the same time, WHO is investigating the use of weight-loss drugs … as part of a systematic review of guidelines for children and adolescents,” Branca said.
Saxenda has been approved by the FDA since 2014 and is currently utilized in the United States for obese people ages 12 and older. The FDA states that the drug needs to be used along with a reduced-calorie weight loss plan and increased physical activity to treat chronic weight reduction in individuals who have a body mass index (a combined measure of height and weight) of at the very least 30 or who’ve a weight-related condition akin to hypertension, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol.
Saxenda is an injection that incorporates liraglutide, a drug called a GLP-1 receptor agonist. GLP-1 drugs work by telling the body to provide more insulin after eating, and the additional insulin then lowers blood sugar levels, in accordance with the Mayo Clinic.
Many GLP-1 drugs are used to treat type 2 diabetes, but the precise mechanism by which weight reduction occurs just isn’t yet fully understood, the Mayo Clinic explained. The drugs appear to scale back hunger and produce a faster and longer-lasting feeling of fullness, possibly because of a slower movement of food through the digestive tract. The final result is that victims may eat less.
According to the WHO, obesity has tripled worldwide since 1975 and currently affects one billion people, including 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents and 39 million children.