The World Health Organization (WHO) has added new medicines for obesity and diabetes to its essential medicines list alongside key drugs for cancer and cystic fibrosis.
The updated catalogue now includes 523 drugs for adults and 374 for children, which WHO says should be available in every health system.
Among the additions are active ingredients used in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro. These drugs which were originally developed for type 2 diabetes are now widely used for weight loss as well.
However, the WHO has limited their recommendation to patients with type 2 diabetes combined with heart disease, kidney disease or obesity rather than obesity alone.
Other important drugs have also been included in the list. Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Trikafta for cystic fibrosis and Merck’s cancer drug Keytruda are now recommended for broader use. Rapid-acting insulin analogues from companies like Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have also been added for managing type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.
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According to WHO, more than 800 million people lived with diabetes in 2022 while obesity affects over a billion worldwide. In 2021 alone, 3.7 million deaths were linked to being overweight or obese—surpassing the combined toll of malaria, tuberculosis and HIV.
