India, Aug. 8 -- India is facing a rare convergence of public health need, scientific progress and economic opportunity. More than 100 million adults live with diabetes and another 136 million with pre-diabetes. At the same time, GLP-1 therapies, initially developed to control blood sugar, have demonstrated reductions in cardiovascular events, kidney disease and mortality in clinical trials. For appropriately selected patients, they represent an advance in preventing the complications that make diabetes so costly for families and the health system. The WHO's decision in 2025 to include GLP-1 therapies in its Essential Medicines List for high-risk people with type 2 diabetes reinforces the clinical case.

International obesity thresholds c...