Liraglutide
GLP-1 agonist (daily)
- Injection
- Oral
- Nasal spray
- Suppository
- Gel or cream
Injection — once daily.
Available · from about $179/mo
Liraglutide is a synthetic peptide with 97% structural similarity to native human GLP-1, the incretin hormone your gut releases after eating. The native hormone has a half-life of about two minutes — too short to be useful as a drug. Liraglutide’s engineering fix was a fatty acid side chain that binds to serum albumin, slowing breakdown and stretching the half-life to roughly 13 hours. That single modification made once-daily subcutaneous dosing possible and launched the GLP-1 class as a real category in medicine.
The receptor, GLP-1R, is expressed across the pancreas, brain, heart, kidneys, and GI tract. Liraglutide activates it fully, triggering glucose-dependent insulin release (which lowers blood sugar without causing hypoglycemia), suppressing glucagon, delaying gastric emptying, and — the mechanism that turned a diabetes drug into a weight-loss drug — acting directly on appetite centers in the hypothalamus. The result: reduced hunger, earlier satiety, and sustained weight loss when paired with structured nutrition.
“Liraglutide is the GLP-1 that proved cardiovascular benefit first — a decade of outcomes data backs it.”
The full pathway details and the trial-by-trial breakdown live on our PeptideWellness deep-dive. What matters here: liraglutide works through the same mechanism as semaglutide and tirzepatide, with a shorter half-life that requires daily dosing and a slightly smaller weight-loss effect in head-to-head comparisons.
Who it's for (or who should avoid)
What it's aimed at
Liraglutide protocols are most commonly prescribed for:
- T2D with established CV disease — LEADER showed a 13% reduction in major CV events and a 22% reduction in CV death over nearly four years
- Chronic weight management in adults — BMI ≥30, or ≥27 with a weight-related comorbidity (hypertension, dyslipidemia, T2D)
- Adolescent obesity (ages 12–17) — the first GLP-1 approved for this population
- Pre-diabetes with strong family history of T2D — SCALE showed a 79% reduction in progression over three years
- Patients needing the most mature CV evidence — liraglutide has the longest follow-up data in the class
Liraglutide works alongside structured nutrition and movement. The 16-week checkpoint in the Saxenda protocol is explicit: if you haven’t lost at least 4% of body weight by month four, the drug isn’t working for you and should be discontinued.
Who should avoid it
- Anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 — this is an absolute contraindication
- People with a history of pancreatitis or active gallbladder disease — both risks run slightly higher on liraglutide
- Anyone pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning a pregnancy — animal reproductive toxicity data are concerning
- Patients with severe gastroparesis or severe renal impairment — GI side effects can worsen dehydration
- Those on insulin or sulfonylureas — dose reductions of those drugs are typically needed to avoid low blood sugar
Route, dose and course
Liraglutide is administered as a once-daily subcutaneous injection in the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm. You can inject at any time of day, with or without food; picking one time and sticking to it is simply easier to remember. Rotate injection sites to avoid lipohypertrophy.
What the label and the trials say:
- Victoza (T2D): 0.6 mg daily for one week (gut acclimation, not therapeutic), then 1.2 mg; up to 1.8 mg if additional glycemic control is needed
- Saxenda (weight management): five-week titration — 0.6 → 1.2 → 1.8 → 2.4 → 3.0 mg from week 5 onward
- 16-week checkpoint: if you haven’t lost at least 4% of body weight by week 16 on Saxenda, discontinue
- Cycling: continuous therapy is standard, particularly where the indication is cardiovascular risk reduction — the LEADER benefit was measured over a median 3.8 years of continuous dosing.
Stage by stage
Read this first. The stages below follow the dose titration on the approved label, which runs in weekly steps. Response varies from person to person, and the trials paired the drug with nutrition and activity changes rather than testing it alone.
Liraglutide is a daily injection titrated over the first weeks. The windows below come from the Saxenda label and the SCALE trial, with a link under each.
- WEEK 1–5TitrationThe Saxenda label starts at 0.6 mg a day and adds 0.6 mg each week until 3.0 mg. Stomach effects such as nausea are the most common side effects. Source: Saxenda prescribing information, FDA (checked Oct 17, 2026)
- WEEK 16The label checkpointThe label says to stop if a patient has not lost at least 4% of body weight by week 16, because a response is unlikely after that. Source: Saxenda prescribing information, FDA (checked Oct 17, 2026)
- WEEK 56Where the main trial endedIn the SCALE trial, people on liraglutide 3.0 mg lost 8.4 kg on average at 56 weeks, against 2.8 kg on placebo. Source: SCALE, Pi-Sunyer 2015, NEJM (checked Oct 17, 2026)
Available · from about $179/mo
Every headline price in this market excludes something. These are normalized to a calendar month, cheapest first, with the exclusion spelled out — the published figure is the footnote under it.
| Provider | From, per month | What that figure excludes | Coverage | Their own site |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry MedsCompounded, broad menu | $179read 2026-11-04 | Stopping a multi-month plan early may require paying out the balance unless the stop is medical. | Not published | Go to site |
| AgelessRxLongevity prescribing, runs its own trials | No price for this compound | Every headline figure on the site is a first-month rate. Sermorelin and NAD+ both advertise below $100 and both go to $149 a month after it. | All 50, stated | Go to site |
| Lavender Sky HealthTwelve named pharmacies, priced per vial | No price for this compound | The vial price excludes the consultation — $65 for a new patient and $40 for the follow-up they require every six months on an active plan. | All 50, stated | Go to site |
| RoBranded GLP-1, private | No price for this compound | The advertised $199 applies to the 0.25 and 0.5 mg doses only, and carries a 31 December 2026 sign-up deadline. | Not published | Go to site |
Will it work where you live?
Most sellers claim all fifty states or publish nothing about coverage; a few name the states they serve or the ones they exclude, and the Coverage column says which. Either way it is the seller's own claim, so we can't filter this list by state without inventing a fact. What we can tell you is which state-level rules decide access: telehealth rules, non-resident pharmacy licensing, and who is allowed to prescribe.
Prices and providers change. We keep track.
Questions we get about Liraglutide
Is liraglutide FDA-approved?
Yes — liraglutide is the active ingredient in two FDA-approved branded drugs: Victoza (for type 2 diabetes, approved 2010) and Saxenda (for chronic weight management, approved 2014). Both are available by prescription at retail pharmacies. Novo Nordisk's US patents expired in 2023: Teva's generic Saxenda was approved on August 28, 2025 and Biocon's version on February 24, 2026.
Is it legal?
With a prescription from a licensed clinician, yes. Liraglutide is a prescription drug and should only be obtained through a licensed pharmacy. Buying it from international or unregulated sources is not legal and carries significant quality and safety risks. Availability can vary by state — confirm current access with the provider or your clinician.
Are there side effects?
The most common side effects are GI-related: nausea, diarrhea, constipation, and vomiting, particularly during the first few weeks at each new dose. These typically improve over time. Pancreatitis is rare but serious — discontinue and contact your provider if you develop severe abdominal pain. Gallbladder disease occurs slightly more often on liraglutide than placebo. There's a boxed warning for thyroid C-cell tumors based on rodent data; liraglutide is contraindicated if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2.
Can I take it with my current medications?
Liraglutide has minimal drug-drug interactions because it's cleared by general proteolysis rather than through liver enzymes. If you're on insulin or sulfonylureas, your provider will likely reduce those doses to avoid low blood sugar. Always disclose your full medication list — including supplements — before starting.
How much does it cost?
In the price table on this page, the monthly figure is about $179, read on November 4, 2026. Novo Nordisk publishes the list price for Saxenda: $1,349.02 (novocare.com, read August 13, 2026). Victoza, the diabetes label for the same molecule, is priced separately. Some plans cover liraglutide for diabetes or obesity with prior authorization; coverage for weight loss alone is less common. A Teva generic of Saxenda was approved in August 2025 and a Biocon version in February 2026, so ask your pharmacy what it can actually fill today rather than working from the branded list price.
See live GLP-1 pricesWe publish no medical reviewer by design. Every claim on this page traces to a source we hold on file, and the reviewed write-up with those citations lives on our hub. Read the full research on PeptideWellness ↗
The latest peptide research and reviews, in your inbox
We are preparing a newsletter: independent updates on peptide therapy, news from compounding pharmacies, and guides. Leave your email and we will send the first issue as soon as it launches.
