Compound Names

What Is Liraglutide?

Published May 2, 2026 · Updated Sep 12, 2026 · 8 minute read

Liraglutide was the first GLP-1 drug that could be injected once a day and the first to show it cut cardiovascular events. Its weekly successors have overtaken it on weight, but it is the molecule the newer ones were built from, and it now comes as a generic.

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Key Takeaways

  • Liraglutide is a GLP-1 receptor agonist injected once daily. Its plasma half-life is about 13 hours, against about a week for semaglutide and five days for tirzepatide.
  • Two brands, two labels: Victoza for type 2 diabetes (0.6 to 1.8 mg) and Saxenda for weight reduction (up to 3 mg). Generic liraglutide for both uses is now on the U.S. market.
  • LEADER: 13.0% of people with type 2 diabetes had a major cardiovascular event on liraglutide versus 14.9% on placebo over a median 3.8 years, hazard ratio 0.87.
  • SCALE: 3 mg produced 8.4 kg of weight loss at 56 weeks against 2.8 kg on placebo. Head-to-head, weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg lost 15.8% versus 6.4% for liraglutide 3 mg.
  • The safety warnings match the rest of the class: boxed thyroid C-cell warning, pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and a heart rate increase warning on the Saxenda label.
Liraglutide
Class GLP-1 receptor agonist (single receptor)
Dosing Once daily, subcutaneous, any time of day
Half-life About 13 hours
Brands Victoza for type 2 diabetes, 0.6 to 1.8 mg; Saxenda for weight reduction, up to 3 mg
Generics Liraglutide injection, first approved December 2024, for both labels
Outcome trial LEADER: major cardiovascular events 13.0% vs 14.9% on placebo, HR 0.87
Weight trial SCALE: 8.4 kg vs 2.8 kg at 56 weeks on 3 mg
Maker Novo Nordisk (brands); Hikma, Teva, Cipla, Biocon and others (generics)

1. What Liraglutide Is

Native GLP-1 is a 30-amino-acid gut hormone released after a meal. It tells the pancreas to release insulin when glucose is high, suppresses glucagon, slows the stomach, and reduces appetite. The problem is that the enzyme DPP-4 destroys it in one and a half to two minutes.

Liraglutide is GLP-1 with two changes: one amino acid swapped and a 16-carbon fatty acid attached. The fatty acid binds the molecule to albumin in the blood, which hides it from DPP-4 and slows its release from the injection site. The label gives the resulting half-life as 13 hours, enough for once-daily dosing. Semaglutide took the same trick further, with a longer fatty diacid and a second substitution, and reached a half-life of about a week.

The receptor effects are the ones on every GLP-1 label: glucose-dependent insulin release, lower glucagon, slower gastric emptying, and reduced food intake. The What Is a GLP-1? page covers the class.

2. Pharmacokinetics and Dosing

Victoza (diabetes) Saxenda (weight)
Start 0.6 mg daily for 1 week 0.6 mg daily for 1 week
Escalation 1.2 mg; 1.8 mg if more glucose control is needed, after at least 1 week on 1.2 mg Add 0.6 mg each week: 1.2, 1.8, 2.4, then 3 mg from week 5
Maintenance 1.2 or 1.8 mg 3 mg (2.4 mg allowed in pediatric patients who cannot tolerate 3 mg)
Pen 6 mg/mL, delivers 0.6, 1.2, 1.8 mg 6 mg/mL, delivers 0.6 to 3 mg
Missed dose Resume with the next scheduled dose; do not double Same; if more than 3 days have passed, restart at 0.6 mg
Stopping rule None on the label Stop if less than 4% weight loss after 16 weeks on 3 mg (adults)

The 0.6 mg week exists only to reduce nausea; the label says it is not effective for glucose control. Because the half-life is 13 hours, the drug reaches steady state within about three days of any dose change, and is essentially gone within three days of stopping. That is why the Saxenda label tells people who have missed more than three days to restart from the bottom of the ladder, and why the weekly drugs, with their five-week washouts, are handled differently. The half-life visualizer shows the difference between a daily and a weekly curve.

3. What the Trials Showed

Cardiovascular outcomes. LEADER randomised 9,340 adults with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk to liraglutide or placebo and followed them for a median 3.8 years.

13.0% vs 14.9%first cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke on liraglutide versus placebo, hazard ratio 0.87
4.7% vs 6.0%cardiovascular death, hazard ratio 0.78
8.2% vs 9.6%death from any cause, hazard ratio 0.85

That result put the cardiovascular indication on the Victoza label in 2017, the first for any GLP-1 drug. Semaglutide’s SUSTAIN-6 (hazard ratio 0.74) and tirzepatide’s SURPASS-CVOT followed.

Weight. SCALE Obesity and Prediabetes randomised 3,731 adults without diabetes to liraglutide 3 mg or placebo for 56 weeks. Mean weight loss was 8.4 kg against 2.8 kg. On the Saxenda label’s analysis, that is 7.4% versus 3.0% of body weight, with 62.3% of the liraglutide group losing at least 5% against 34.4% on placebo. In adolescents aged 12 to 17, a 56-week trial found a 5% or greater BMI reduction in 43.3% on liraglutide versus 18.7% on placebo, which is the basis of Saxenda’s pediatric indication.

Blood sugar in children. The Ellipse trial in 134 children and adolescents aged 10 to 17 with type 2 diabetes led to Victoza’s pediatric indication, the first GLP-1 drug approved for that age group.

4. Liraglutide Against the Weekly Drugs

The daily molecule has been compared directly with its weekly successor.

15.8% vs 6.4%weight loss at 68 weeks on weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg versus daily liraglutide 3 mg in STEP 8, 338 adults without diabetes; pooled placebo lost 1.9%
2.5×roughly the weight-loss ratio between the two in that trial. Tirzepatide 15 mg reached 20.9% in its own placebo-controlled trial, not head-to-head with liraglutide

Liraglutide remains relevant for three reasons: it has the longest safety record in the class, it is the only GLP-1 drug with generic competition, and its short half-life means it clears in days, which matters for people who need to stop quickly.

5. Safety

Both labels open with the boxed warning on thyroid C-cell tumors, seen in rodents, and the contraindication for anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2. Both warn about acute pancreatitis, acute gallbladder disease (3.1% versus 1.9% on placebo in LEADER), hypoglycemia when combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea, acute kidney injury from dehydration, severe gastrointestinal reactions, and delayed gastric emptying before anesthesia. The Saxenda label adds a warning to monitor heart rate, and its most common adverse reactions at 5% or more are nausea, diarrhea, constipation, vomiting, injection site reactions, headache, and hypoglycemia. Nausea is mostly a dose-escalation effect, which is what the weekly steps are for.

6. Generics

FDA approved the first generic liraglutide injection, referencing Victoza, on December 23, 2024, from Hikma. Since then DailyMed has listed generic liraglutide from several manufacturers, some labeled for type 2 diabetes and some for weight reduction. A generic carries the same doses, the same pen mechanics, and the same warnings as the brand it references. For most people the practical difference is price and what the pharmacy stocks.

7. Where the Brand Details Live

This page is about the molecule. The two brand pages carry the label-specific material: What Is Victoza? for the diabetes label, LEADER in more detail, and the pediatric indication; What Is Saxenda? for the weight label, the SCALE program, the 16-week stopping rule, and the adolescent data. For the wider family, What Is Semaglutide? covers the weekly successor.

For a record, the entry is the same as any injected GLP-1: product, date, milligrams, injection site. A daily drug makes the log longer but not different; How GLP-1 tracking works covers what to keep.

8. What Is Liraglutide FAQ

  • What is liraglutide in simple terms?

    Liraglutide is a modified copy of the gut hormone GLP-1 that resists breakdown, so one daily injection keeps the receptor active around the clock. It lowers blood sugar in a glucose-dependent way, slows gastric emptying, and reduces appetite. It is sold as Victoza for type 2 diabetes, as Saxenda for weight reduction, and as generic liraglutide injection for both.

  • How does liraglutide compare with semaglutide?

    Semaglutide is the same idea taken further: a longer-lasting molecule injected weekly. In STEP 8, weekly semaglutide 2.4 mg produced 15.8% weight loss over 68 weeks versus 6.4% for daily liraglutide 3 mg. Both have cardiovascular outcome trials in type 2 diabetes: LEADER for liraglutide (hazard ratio 0.87) and SUSTAIN-6 for semaglutide (0.74), though the trials are not directly comparable.

  • Why is liraglutide daily when the newer drugs are weekly?

    Its half-life is about 13 hours. A fatty-acid side chain binds it to albumin and protects it from the enzyme that destroys native GLP-1 in under two minutes, but not for long enough to cover a week. Semaglutide's stronger albumin binding gives it a half-life of about a week.

  • Is there a generic liraglutide?

    Yes. FDA approved the first generic referencing Victoza in December 2024, and DailyMed now lists generic liraglutide injections from several manufacturers, some labeled for type 2 diabetes and some for weight reduction. The doses and pens are the same as the brands.

  • What are the main risks?

    The class warnings: a boxed warning on thyroid C-cell tumors seen in rodents, contraindication with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2, and warnings on pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, hypoglycemia when combined with insulin or a sulfonylurea, acute kidney injury from dehydration, and severe gastrointestinal reactions. The Saxenda label adds a warning to monitor heart rate.

9. Sources

References used for this article

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