Liraglutide is the compound that established GLP-1 agonists as weight-loss drugs. It was approved for type 2 diabetes in 2010 as Victoza, and at a higher dose for obesity in 2014 as Saxenda, the first of its class to hold that second approval anywhere.
It has since been overtaken. Semaglutide produces roughly twice the weight loss and is injected weekly rather than daily, and most people choosing between them now choose semaglutide. What liraglutide retains is the longest safety record in the class: more than a decade of use in millions of people, with cardiovascular outcome data from a dedicated trial in over nine thousand patients.
That makes it worth understanding even if you would not choose it. Almost everything known about GLP-1 side effects, the thyroid warning that appears on every label in the class, and the pattern of weight regain after stopping was established with liraglutide first.
How it works
Liraglutide is a GLP-1 analogue sharing 97% of its sequence with human GLP-1. It binds the GLP-1 receptor and reproduces what the natural hormone does: it increases insulin release when blood glucose is high, suppresses glucagon, slows how quickly the stomach empties, and acts on appetite centres in the hypothalamus.
Natural GLP-1 lasts about two minutes before an enzyme called DPP-4 destroys it. Liraglutide carries a fatty acid chain attached at one lysine, which binds it to albumin in the blood and shields it from that enzyme. The result is a half-life of roughly thirteen hours: long enough for a daily injection, short enough that the difference from weekly semaglutide is structural, not a matter of degree.
The appetite effect is central and it is not willpower being augmented. People report earlier fullness and reduced preoccupation with food, which is the hypothalamic action, not the delayed stomach emptying.
Regulatory status — United States
Approved by the FDA and EMA. Marketed as Victoza for type 2 diabetes and as Saxenda for chronic weight management at a higher dose. Both carry a boxed warning about thyroid C-cell tumours. Compounded or research-chemical liraglutide is not the approved product and has not been through the manufacturing controls the approval rests on.
Last reviewed 16 Aug 2026. Regulatory positions in this category change frequently; we date this line so you can see how current it is.
What it is studied for
Each entry states the evidence behind it. We do not rank indications by effectiveness — for most compounds here, that would be a claim nobody can support.
Chronic weight management
Clinical trialApproved as Saxenda at 3.0 mg daily.
EvidenceA 56-week randomised placebo-controlled trial in 3,731 adults found 8.0% mean weight loss against 2.6% on placebo.
Type 2 diabetes
Clinical trialApproved as Victoza at up to 1.8 mg daily.
EvidenceApproved on a large clinical programme, with cardiovascular outcomes established separately in a trial of 9,340 patients.
Reducing cardiovascular events
Clinical trialAn outcome, not a surrogate marker.
EvidenceThe LEADER trial found fewer cardiovascular deaths, heart attacks and strokes over a median 3.8 years in patients with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk.
Identity and clearance
Molecule
- Class
- Acylated GLP-1 receptor agonist
- Molecular weight
- 3751.2 Da
- Length
- 31 amino acids
A C16 palmitic acid chain is attached through a glutamic acid spacer at position 26. That chain is the entire reason it lasts thirteen hours instead of two minutes.
Pharmacokinetics
Clinical trialDaily dosing. Steady state is reached in about three days, which is why dose escalation steps are weekly rather than longer.
Dose protocols reported in sources
Displayed for reference only. Every row says where it came from, and a trial protocol and a community convention are not the same kind of information. None of this is fed into the calculator, and none of it is a recommendation.
| Goal | Dose | Frequency | Route | Units, 6 mg vial | Source | Start this protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight management escalation, as approved | 600 mcg – 3 mg | Once daily, increasing by 0.6 mg each week | Subcutaneous0.6 mg daily for a week, then 1.2, 1.8, 2.4 and 3.0 mg at weekly intervals. The escalation exists to let nausea settle at each step; going faster is the most common reason people abandon the drug. | 10–50 u | Clinical trial | Start this |
| Type 2 diabetes, as approved | 600 mcg – 1.8 mg | Once daily | Subcutaneous0.6 mg for a week, then 1.2 mg, with 1.8 mg if further glucose control is needed. A lower ceiling than the obesity indication. | 10–30 u | Clinical trial | Start this |
Start this copies a row into a protocol of your own, which you can then edit. Where a source gave a dose range or an ambiguous frequency, those fields arrive empty — we will not pick a number on your behalf.
Calculator
Work out what to draw
Pre-filled with a 18 mg vial as a worked example. These are not recommended values — change them to match the vial in front of you.
Draw to 50 units on a 1 mL U-100 syringe. That is 0.5 mL, containing 3 mg of Liraglutide.
50 units sits exactly on a printed line.
Bioalmanac performs arithmetic on values you enter. It does not recommend doses, schedules or compounds, and nothing here is medical advice. Confirm every calculation against your vial and syringe before drawing, and speak with a licensed healthcare provider.
Open this calculation in the full calculator
Units, concentration, bacteriostatic water — the glossary defines the vocabulary, and a unit is not a fixed volume.
Safety
Reported effects
- NauseaClinical trial
Very common, roughly 40% in the obesity trial
Usually worst in the first weeks and after each dose increase, and it usually settles. It is the leading reason people stop.
- Vomiting, diarrhoea and constipationClinical trial
Common in trials
- Gallstones and gallbladder diseaseClinical trial
Uncommon but consistently reported
Rapid weight loss raises gallstone risk generally, and the trials found more gallbladder events on liraglutide than on placebo.
- PancreatitisClinical trial
Rare
Severe, persistent abdominal pain radiating to the back, with or without vomiting, needs urgent assessment.
- Increased heart rateClinical trial
Common, small in size
An average increase of a few beats per minute, seen consistently across the class.
- Injection site reactionsClinical trial
Common
When to stop
- Severe, persistent abdominal pain, particularly radiating to the back. Possible pancreatitis. Stop and seek urgent care.
- Pain in the upper right abdomen, fever, or yellowing of the skin or eyes. Possible gallbladder disease. Seek care.
- A lump in the neck, hoarseness that does not resolve, or difficulty swallowing. Investigate before continuing.
- Vomiting severe enough that you cannot keep fluids down. Dehydration on a GLP-1 can injure the kidneys.
- Any allergic response: rash, hives, facial swelling or difficulty breathing. Seek urgent care.
- Signs of low blood sugar if you also use insulin or a sulfonylurea: sweating, shaking, confusion. Those doses usually need reducing.
Interactions and situations that need care
- Personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or MEN 2Avoid
Liraglutide caused thyroid C-cell tumours in rodents at clinically relevant exposures. Whether this happens in humans is unresolved, and the FDA requires a boxed warning on every product in the class. In someone already carrying that specific risk, it is a firm exclusion, not a caution.
- History of pancreatitisUse caution
Pancreatitis is a recognised, if rare, adverse event across the GLP-1 class, and a previous episode raises the baseline risk of another.
- Pregnancy and breastfeedingAvoid
Not recommended. Deliberate weight loss during pregnancy is contraindicated, and there is no safety data to weigh against that.
- Insulin or sulfonylurea therapyUse caution
Combining glucose-lowering mechanisms causes hypoglycaemia. Doses of those drugs are usually reduced when a GLP-1 is started, which requires a prescriber, not a decision made alone.
- Gastroparesis or severe gastrointestinal diseaseUse caution
Liraglutide slows gastric emptying by design, which makes an existing motility problem worse.
What to expect
- Mean weight loss in the 56-week obesity trial was 8.0% against 2.6% on placebo. A real effect, and roughly half what semaglutide produces.
- It is a daily injection. Over a year that is 365 injections rather than 52, and for many people that difference alone decides the choice.
- Nausea is very common early and after each dose increase, and it generally settles. Escalating faster than the schedule is the most common self-inflicted reason for stopping.
- Weight is regained after stopping, as it is across the class. The trials treat it as long-term therapy because that is what the evidence supports.
- It has the longest safety record of any GLP-1, including a dedicated cardiovascular outcomes trial. If that matters more to you than the size of the effect, it is a reasonable argument for choosing it.
Storage and handling
- Freeze-dried powder
- The approved product is a solution, not a powder. Refrigerated at 2–8 °C before first use.
- After mixing
- After first use, up to 30 days at room temperature below 30 °C or refrigerated. Protect from light and do not freeze.
- Long-term, frozen
- Never freeze. Freezing destroys it, and it cannot be used after.
With other peptides
- Semaglutideincompatible
Both are GLP-1 receptor agonists. Taking them together doubles the gastrointestinal effects and the pancreatitis risk while adding nothing — the receptor is already saturated at therapeutic doses of either.
- Tirzepatideincompatible
Tirzepatide already includes full GLP-1 receptor agonism. Adding liraglutide stacks the same mechanism, with the same side effects and no additional benefit.
Checking your vial
Research chemicals carry no manufacturing standard, so what the vial looks like is often the only quality signal available before you use it. More on assessing quality and COAs.
Clear, colourless solution
Liraglutide is supplied as a solution. It should look like water.
Cloudy, coloured, or containing particles
Do not use it. This indicates degradation or contamination.
Has been frozen at any point
Freezing denatures it irreversibly, and it will not necessarily look different afterwards.
Questions
- Should I use liraglutide or semaglutide?
- Semaglutide produces roughly twice the weight loss and is weekly rather than daily, so for most people it is the better option. Liraglutide's arguments are its longer safety record and its shorter half-life, which means side effects resolve faster if you need to stop.
- What is the difference between Victoza and Saxenda?
- The same drug at different maximum doses for different approvals: Victoza up to 1.8 mg for type 2 diabetes, Saxenda up to 3.0 mg for weight management. They are not interchangeable pens.
- What is the thyroid warning about?
- Liraglutide caused thyroid C-cell tumours in rats and mice. Whether this translates to humans has not been established either way, and the FDA requires a boxed warning on the whole class. It is a firm exclusion for anyone with medullary thyroid carcinoma in their family or with MEN 2.
- Will I regain the weight?
- If you stop, most likely yes. This is consistent across the GLP-1 class and is why the trials study it as ongoing therapy, not a course of treatment.
References
A randomized, controlled trial of 3.0 mg of liraglutide in weight management (SCALE Obesity and Prediabetes)
New England Journal of Medicine, 2015 · Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Adults with obesity, or overweight with a comorbidity · n = 3731 · 3.0 mg subcutaneous, once daily · 56 weeks
Mean weight loss of 8.0% against 2.6% on placebo. Nausea affected around 40% of participants. Gallbladder events and pancreatitis were more frequent on liraglutide.
10.1056/NEJMoa1411892
Liraglutide and cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes (LEADER)
New England Journal of Medicine, 2016 · Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled outcomes trial
Adults with type 2 diabetes at high cardiovascular risk · n = 9340 · Up to 1.8 mg subcutaneous, once daily · Median 3.8 years
Fewer cardiovascular deaths, non-fatal heart attacks and non-fatal strokes than placebo. Established a hard outcome benefit, not an effect on a surrogate marker.
10.1056/NEJMoa1603827
Liraglutide compared with
Related compounds
Semaglutide
A long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for type 2 diabetes and for weight management, dosed once weekly.
Tirzepatide
A once-weekly dual agonist that activates both the GIP and GLP-1 receptors, approved for type 2 diabetes and for weight management.
Retatrutide
An investigational once-weekly triple agonist acting on the GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors. Not approved anywhere.
Cagrilintide
A long-acting amylin analogue in late-stage trials. It works on a different satiety pathway from the GLP-1 drugs. Which is why it is being developed alongside semaglutide rather than against it.
Next
What to do with Liraglutide
- Keep a record of itTurn a dose and a schedule into a protocol, then log what you actually take. Liraglutide is filled in for you.
- See what it costsPer-milligram prices read from vendor sites and confirmed by a person, so vial sizes compare.
- Check a combinationWhat our profiles record about Liraglutide alongside each other compound — including the pairs where nothing is recorded.
Keep this page honest
If something here is wrong, out of date, or missing a source, tell us and we will fix it and say that we did.
This page is educational. It describes what published research reports, not what you should do. Peptides discussed here are largely not approved for human use, and nothing on Bioalmanac is medical advice. No clinician reviews these pages.
Page last updated 16 Aug 2026