Liraglutide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Liraglutide is a glp-1 receptor agonist sold in the U.S. under 2 brand and generic names, for obesity and overweight. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Drug class
- Glp-1 Receptor Agonist
- Treats
- Obesity and Overweight
- Available as
- Injectable
- Sold as
- 2 products — Saxenda and Victoza
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Not in our catalog
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $39 per ml — not your price
- Boxed warning
- Boxed warning
How liraglutide is dosed
From the FDA label for Saxenda. Other liraglutide products — different forms, different strengths — are dosed differently. Follow the label for the one you were prescribed.
Inject SAXENDA subcutaneously in the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm once daily at any time of day, without regard to the timing of meals ( 2.2 ). • The recommended dose of SAXENDA is 3 mg daily ( 2.3 ). • Initiate at 0.6 mg per day for one week. In weekly intervals, increase the dose until a dose of 3 mg is reached ( 2.3 ). • If pediatric patients do not tolerate an increased dose during dose escalation, the dose may also be lowered to the previous level. Dose escalation for pediatric patients may take up to 8 weeks ( 2.3 ). • Pediatric patients who do not tolerate 3 mg daily may have their dose reduced to 2.4 mg daily ( 2.3 ). • Adult patients with type 2 diabetes should monitor blood glucose prior to starting SAXENDA and during SAXENDA treatment ( 2.3 ). 2.1 Patient Selection Select patients for SAXENDA treatment as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for chronic weight management based on the BMI values provided in Tables 1 and 2. Adult and Pediatric Patients BMI is calculated by dividing weight in (kilograms) by height (in meters) squared. A chart for determining BMI based on height and weight is provided in Table 1. Table 1: BMI Conversion Chart Pediatric Patients Aged 12 Years and Older BMI cut-offs for obesity in pediatric patients aged 12 years and older are presented in Table 2. Table 2: International Obesity Task Force BMI Cut-offs for…
Liraglutide side effects
The following serious adverse reactions are described below or elsewhere in the prescribing information: • Risk of Thyroid C-Cell Tumors [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.1 )] • Acute Pancreatitis [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.2 )] • Acute Gallbladder Disease [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.3 )] • Risk for Hypoglycemia with Concomitant Use of Anti-Diabetic Therapy [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.4 )] • Heart Rate Increase [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.5 )] • Renal Impairment [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.6 )] • Hypersensitivity Reactions [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.7 )] • Suicidal Behavior and Ideation [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.8 )] • Most common adverse reactions, reported in greater than or equal to 5% are: nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, injection site reactions, headache, hypoglycemia, dyspepsia, fatigue, dizziness, abdominal pain, increased lipase, upper abdominal pain, pyrexia, and gastroenteritis ( 6.1 ). To report SUSPECTED ADVERSE REACTIONS, contact Novo Nordisk Inc. at 1-844-363-4448 or FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 or www.fda.gov/medwatch . 6.1 Clinical Trials Experience Because clinical trials are conducted under widely varying conditions, adverse reaction rates observed in the clinical trials of a drug cannot be directly compared to rates in the clinical studies of another drug and may not reflect the rates observed in practice.…
Who shouldn’t take liraglutide
SAXENDA is contraindicated in: • Patients with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) or patients with Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2) [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.1 )]. • Patients with a serious hypersensitivity reaction to liraglutide or to any of the excipients in SAXENDA. Serious hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylactic reactions and angioedema have been reported with SAXENDA [see Warnings and Precautions ( 5.7 )]. • Pregnancy [see Use in Specific Populations ( 8.1 )] . • Personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 ( 4 , 5.1 ). • Hypersensitivity to liraglutide or any excipients in SAXENDA ( 4 , 5.7 ). • Pregnancy ( 4 , 8.1 ).
Liraglutide drug interactions
SAXENDA delays gastric emptying. May impact absorption of concomitantly administered oral medications. Use with caution ( 7 ). 7.1 Oral Medications SAXENDA causes a delay of gastric emptying, and thereby has the potential to impact the absorption of concomitantly administered oral medications. In clinical pharmacology trials, liraglutide did not affect the absorption of the tested orally administered medications to any clinically relevant degree. Nonetheless, monitor for potential consequences of delayed absorption of oral medications concomitantly administered with SAXENDA.
Every liraglutide product we track (2)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70/100 | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $39 | View → | |
| 2 | 70/100 | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $39 | View → |
Liraglutide is one of the FDA-approved weight-loss medications — see every option compared (injections and pills, with each trial’s average weight loss).
Combination products containing liraglutide
A combination is a different drug — different dosing, different warnings. It is listed here so you can find it, not so you can substitute it.
Liraglutide recalls
From the FDA Enforcement database. A recall covers specific lots — not the drug as a whole.
How long liraglutide keeps
No liraglutide label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does liraglutide expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsLiraglutide and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for liraglutide: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadNo information is available on the use of liraglutide during breastfeeding. Because liraglutide is a large peptide molecule with a molecular weight of 3751 daltons, the amount in milk is likely to be very low and absorption is unlikely because it is probably destroyed in the infant's gastrointestinal tract. Until more data become available, liraglutide should be used with caution during breastfeeding, especially while nursing a newborn or preterm infant.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised May 15, 2026. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about liraglutide
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 5,268 reports naming liraglutide, and the FDA flagged 64% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- nausea647 reports
- vomiting331 reports
- dyspnoea328 reports
- blood glucose increased326 reports
- diarrhoea321 reports
- anxiety228 reports
- pancreatitis219 reports
- headache215 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean liraglutide caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
What is liraglutide?
Saxenda (Liraglutide) is a GLP-1 receptor agonist used to treat Obesity, Overweight.
What kind of drug is liraglutide?
The FDA classifies liraglutide as a glp-1 receptor agonist. GLP-1 receptor agonists mimic the gut hormone GLP-1: they prompt the pancreas to release insulin when blood sugar is high, curb the release of glucagon, and slow stomach emptying, which lowers blood sugar and reduces appetite. If you are checking whether it is safe to combine with something else, the class is what matters — two drugs from the same class usually should not be stacked.
Can you take liraglutide with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run liraglutide against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is liraglutide sold under?
We track 2 liraglutide-containing products in the U.S.: Saxenda and Victoza. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does liraglutide come in?
Across the brands we track, liraglutide is currently marketed as injectable, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic liraglutide?
We do not currently list a generic-labelled liraglutide product. That does not always mean none exists — it means none appears under a generic name in the FDA data we track. Ask your pharmacist.
Has liraglutide been recalled?
The FDA's Enforcement database lists 1 recall record whose product description mentions liraglutide. The most recent: Liraglutide Injection (Apr 24, 2026). A recall applies to specific lots, not to the drug as a whole — check the record for the affected lot numbers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Liraglutide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/liraglutide
- MLA
- “Liraglutide: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/liraglutide.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for liraglutide on DailyMed (NIH) ↗ — including its boxed warning in full.