Diabetes type 2, obesity can be treated for long-term cure through same medicine? Details here

World Health Organization or the WHO are recommending that popular GLP-1 drugs can be used to treat diabetes and obesity. The WHO’s expert committee concluded that the popular GLP-1 drugs, first developed by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, are part of the solution for the long-term treatment of obesity for patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, alongside counselling on lifestyle and behaviour changes. Earlier in September, the WHO added GLP-1 drugs to treat diabetes to its essential medicines list alongside treatments for cystic fibrosis and cancer, and said it hopes this will help improve global access to the costly drugs, Reuters reported.

Obesity Treatment

In the draft guidelines, which were published online and are open for consultation until September 27, the WHO said the response to obesity was often shaped by outdated views that frame it as a lifestyle issue. Instead, it said it was a "chronic, progressive and relapsing disease” that affects more than 1 billion people globally in both high- and low-income countries, contributing to millions of preventable deaths.


It recommended using the drugs to treat obesity for the first time, calling it a critical step toward developing a global standard of care. It is developing separate guidelines for treating children and adolescents.

While the WHO's draft guidelines only apply to people with a BMI above 30, in some high-income countries like the United States, the drugs are also recommended for people with a BMI of 27 to 30 and at least one weight-related medical condition.

Diabetes Medicine

The WHO expert committee added the active ingredients in Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro to the list, to treat type 2 diabetes in conjunction with established cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease or obesity.

The drugs were initially developed for diabetes but have become wildly popular weight-loss drugs too, under different brand names, but the WHO stopped short of adding them to treat obesity alone, as it also did in 2023.

The committee said this decision provided clear guidance on which patients would most benefit from the therapies.

FAQs

Q1. What is full form of WHO?
A1. The full form of WHO is World Health Organization.

Q2. What is full form of BMI?
A2. The full form of BMI is body mass index.