THE World Health Organization’s (WHO) Essential Medicines Lists (EMLs) have been updated for 2025, with 20 new drugs added to the adult list, including type 2 diabetes treatments popularly used for weight loss, as well as cancer drugs and rapid-acting synthetic insulin.

GLP-1 receptor agonists – including semaglutide, dulaglutide, liraglutide and tirzepatide – are among the new additions in a recommendation that recognises the growing importance of the drugs in clinical treatment of diabetes worldwide.

Other notable additions include new PD-1/PD-L1 cancer therapies – pembrolizumab (Keytruda) and two other therapeutic alternatives – following evidence demonstrating that the drugs, used in treatment of metastatic cervical, colorectal and lung cancer, prolong survival by at least four to six months.

Rapid acting insulin analogues have also made the list, following in the footsteps of longer-acting synthetic insulin formulas that were first included in 2021 as an alternative to human-derived insulin products.

In terms of infectious disease, vaccines for maternal RSV, mpox and ebola virus are included, with a malaria vaccine added to the children’s EML.

The EMLs are used by over 150 countries, as well as insurance and health care providers, to guide decisions about procurement and provision of critical medicines for virtually every infectious and non-communicable disease condition.

Access the lists HERE. KB

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