LONDON, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization

has 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.

The list, consisting of 523 medicines for adults and 374 for

children, is a catalogue of the drugs the WHO believes should be

available in all functioning health systems. In the past

including a drug has helped boost access for people in poorer

countries, such as for HIV treatments in the early 2000s.

"Rather than letting price be a disqualifying factor, the

committee views inclusion in the essential medicines list as a

potential catalyst for access," Dr Lorenzo Moja, head of the WHO

secretariat overseeing the list, told Reuters.

The expert committee added the active ingredients in Novo

Nordisk's Ozempic and Eli Lilly's ( LLY ) 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.

"High prices of medicines like semaglutide and tirzepatide

are limiting access to these medicines," the WHO statement

added, saying that encouraging generic drugmakers to produce the

product would also help when patents begin to expire on the

drugs next year.

A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said the company was

committed to supporting broader access to its treatments.

Several companies are already working on generic copies.

Globally, there were more than 800 million people worldwide

living with diabetes in 2022, the WHO said. There are also more

than 1 billion people with obesity. Earlier this year, a WHO

memo said it would recommend the use of the drugs for obesity, a

separate step to adding them to the essential list.

The list also includes Vertex Pharmaceuticals' ( VRTX ) combination

therapy for cystic fibrosis, Trikafta or Kaftrio. Activists have

criticised its high price and lack of accessibility for years.

It also includes Merck's ( MRK ) top-selling cancer immunotherapy

drug, Keytruda, for the treatment of cervical cancers,

colorectal cancers, and non-small cell lung cancers that have

spread, or metastasized and recommended strategies to increase

access.

The WHO also added rapid-acting insulin analogues, also made

by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ( LLY ), among others, to the list for

treating type 1, type 2 and gestational diabetes.