Written By: Pharmacally Medical News Desk
In early September 2025, the World Health Organization released its updated Model List of Essential Medicines (EML) and the children’s version (EMLc). This is the 24th updation adults list and the 10th for children. The update added 20 new medicines to the adult list and 15 to the children’s list. WHO EML is first launched in 1977 and since then its most trusted tool for policy making related to medicine selection, procurement and universal coverage, it also promote better access to these medicines in developing countries. The decision was made in the meeting of the 25th WHO Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines was held at WHO Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, from 5 to 9 May 2025.
The new adult additions include
Cancer treatments like PD-1/PD-L1 immunotherapies like pembrolizumab as first-line treatment for metastatic cervical, colorectal, non-small-cell lung cancers, with atezolizumab and cemiplimab as alternatives
Diabetes and weight loss drugs like GLP-1 receptor agonists for diabetes alongside cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, or obesity but not solely for obesity, the drugs like Semaglutide and Tirzepatide, dulaglutide and liraglutide
Cystic fibrosis therapy drugs include combination therapies and standalone drugs like Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor and single agent ivacaftor
Haemophilia drugs like Emicizumab for Haemophilia A along with recombinant coagulation factor VIII and IX.
Rapid-acting insulin analogues now approved for type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes
Vaccines which are added in list include Ebola, Mpox, Hepatitis E, maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and malaria.
Why It Matters
These high-impact medications listed can push affordable access, especially in low-income countries. In past, similar listings have turned the surge in medicines access, like with HIV treatments in the 2000s.
Since the prices of GLP-1 drugs, Keytruda, Trikafta, and others remain high, inclusion in the EML can encourage generic production as patents expire and signal governments and insurers to prioritize their availability.
WHO intentionally limited GLP-1 agonists like Semaglutide and Tirzepatide (Wegovy and Tirzepatide) only to type 2 diabetes cases with additional risk factors and not for obesity alone. By this way, WHO has made sure that these drugs should be available in conditions where their use offers the most benefit.
Quick Highlights of the New Medicines
Drug Name | Class | Indication (new WHO listing) |
Semaglutide / Tirzepatide | GLP-1/and GIP receptor agonists | Type 2 diabetes with cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, or obesity (not obesity alone) |
Rapid-acting insulin analogues | Insulin analogues (short-acting) | Diabetes (type 1, type 2, and gestational) |
Pembrolizumab | PD-1 immune checkpoint inhibitor | First-line for metastatic cervical, colorectal, non-small cell lung cancers |
Atezolizumab / Cemiplimab | PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitors | Alternative options for metastatic non-small cell lung cancer |
Elexacaftor/tezacaftor/ivacaftor and single agent ivacaftor | CFTR modulator combination | Cystic fibrosis (combination therapy) |
Ebola, Mpox, Hepatitis E, maternal respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and malaria | Vaccine | For respective disease |
Emicizumab along with Coagulation factor VIII and IX | humanized bispecific monoclonal antibody | Haemophilia A |
WHO’s 2025 update marks a significant move toward leveling global health access with top-tier drugs now flagged as essential.
WHO only adds medicines that show real benefits. For example, the new cancer drugs were proven to help patients live at least 4–6 months longer and have high potential for global health impact, added by Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, Assistant Director-General for Health Systems, Access and Data.
“A large share of out-of-pocket spending on noncommunicable diseases goes toward medicines, including those classified as essential and that, in principle, should be financially accessible to everyone” said Deusdedit Mubangizi, WHO’s Director of Policy and Standards for Medicines and Health Products.
Countries worldwide (more than 150 already use the EML as a guide for public procurement and health coverage) may now be more persuaded to adopt these drugs into national health systems.
This step of WHO could translate into better prevention, treatment, and outcomes for patients facing cancer, diabetes and related complications, cystic fibrosis, and more.
Other Important Decisions in WHO Expert Committee Meeting
The expert committee has recommended that the inhalational medicine like inhalational anaesthetic agent Halothane can be removed from the EML and EMLc and prioritize other inhalational agent like sevoflurane.
WHO also updated the nitrous oxide entry in the Essential Medicines List to say it should preferably be supplied in point-of-care cylinders, rather than through central pipeline systems.
The justifications behind these recommendations are that halothane and nitrous oxide are potent greenhouse gases and ozone depleting substances with significant environmental aftereffects.
Reference
WHO updates list of essential medicines to include key cancer, diabetes treatments, World Health Organization, 05 September 2025, https://www.who.int/news/item/05-09-2025-who-updates-list-of-essential-medicines-to-include-key-cancer–diabetes-treatments
The selection and use of essential medicines, 2025: report of the 25th WHO Expert Committee on Selection and Use of Essential Medicines, executive summary. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. https://doi.org/10.2471/B09544. Licence: CC BYNC-SA 3.0 IGO.