LONDON, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The World Health

Organization will recommend using weight-loss drugs to treat

obesity in adults, according to draft guidance from the agency

that urged countries to take the condition seriously as a

chronic disease.

The WHO's expert committee concluded that the popular GLP-1

drugs, first developed by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly ( LLY )

, 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.

Reuters first reported that the WHO was likely to take this

step in May this year.

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response to obesity was often shaped by outdated views that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.

Earlier this month, the WHO stopped short of adding the

drugs as obesity treatments to its essential medicines list, a

separate catalogue of the drugs that should be available in all

functioning health systems.

It did add them for patients with type 2 diabetes - the

disease they were originally developed to treat - combined with

another health condition. The agency said this indicated which

patients would most benefit from the costly therapies, adding

that the high prices were limiting access to the medicines in

low- and middle-income countries.