American billionaire Bill Gates and the director of the Pan American Health Organization, Jarbas Barbosa, said that they are interested in making weight-loss drugs more widely available in low-income countries, similar to the drug “Wegovi” developed by Novo Nordisk and the drug “Monjaro” from Eli Lilly.
In separate interviews with Reuters, Gates and Barbosa said they were aware of the disparity in the availability of these effective and expensive treatments.
About 70% of the billion people suffering from obesity live in low- and middle-income countries, countries that may find it difficult to bear the cost of confronting this disease and its health complications such as diabetes and heart disease.
Asked whether the Bill Gates Foundation would help make weight-loss treatments more available, the Microsoft founder said, “Most likely.”
He added that the Foundation has a proven track record in providing medicines that have been proven effective in rich countries “at very low prices to become accessible to everyone around the world.”
A spokesman for the foundation said that it is currently working on preliminary research to determine the possibility of using weight loss medications to improve outcomes in women with gestational diabetes.
In its draft guidelines this year, the World Health Organization recommended the use of weight-loss drugs to treat obesity in adults, but criticized the producing companies because of their high prices and difficulty obtaining them.
The Pan American Health Organization, the organization’s arm in the Americas, runs a fund that helps reduce drug prices by underwriting collective purchase orders on behalf of its 35 member countries.
Barbosa told Reuters that using this fund to purchase weight-loss drugs is an option, noting that it could also help manufacturers speed up regulatory procedures instead of applying for approval in each country individually.
He added, “We have begun the dialogue,” explaining that the Pan American Health Organization is working on preparing recommendations on the best ways to use these drugs, and that it intends to speak with Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and other pharmaceutical companies during the next two weeks.