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FDA-approved medicine

Liraglutide Victoza · Saxenda

Liraglutide is the drug in the daily injection pens Victoza and Saxenda. The brands have different approved uses and dose schedules.

What matters first

Why people look it up
People take Victoza for type 2 diabetes and Saxenda for long-term weight management.
What the evidence shows
Both products have FDA approval. Their labels use different maximum doses, so one schedule cannot stand in for the other.
Dose status
Liraglutide is not FDA-approved, so no dosing label exists for it. The sections below explain what researchers tested and what remains unknown.

Evidence snapshot

FDA-approved label

The fastest way to see what kind of evidence this page is built on.

Regulation
FDA approvedVictoza · Saxenda
Dose source
FDA product labels2 separate schedules
Safety evidence
10 listed safety findingsIncludes a boxed warning
Sources
2 cited sourcesMedical review complete · 2026-08-15
Open the shareable evidence image
Liraglutide at a glance: FDA-approved label, dosing basis, regulatory status, safety coverage, and cited-source count. These details summarize the available sources; they are not treatment recommendations.

Further down: research and dosing details · how it works · how good the evidence is · questions

Medically reviewed by Jennifer Montecillo, MD · non-practicing medical reviewerReviewed 2026-08-15open the primary sources

What is known about Liraglutide

Liraglutide is a once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist sold in two FDA-approved prefilled pens with different jobs and different schedules. Victoza is labeled for type 2 diabetes and stops at 1.8 mg daily; Saxenda is labeled for chronic weight management and reaches 3 mg daily. There is no single liraglutide ladder that safely substitutes for choosing the product first.

Liraglutide research and regulatory details: evidence quality, approval status, doses, handling, and presentation.
TopicValue
Strongest sourceFDA label
FDA approvalApproved (Victoza, Saxenda)
Half-life≈ 13 hours
PresentationFDA-approved liraglutide products are prefilled pens and are not reconstituted.

Every row links back to a source listed below. These facts are for reference, not a personal recommendation.

One molecule, two product records

The drug name is only the shared starting point. Each product has its own use, dose schedule and limit. HealthspanLedger keeps those facts on the product label that states them.

How Liraglutide works

Liraglutide acts at GLP-1 alone. Here is what that means.

GLP-1 is a hormone your gut releases when you eat. It lasts only a few minutes — an enzyme called DPP-4 breaks it down almost straight away — so the natural signal is a short burst after a meal. A GLP-1 receptor agonist is a redesigned copy of that hormone, built to survive the enzyme and to stick to proteins in your blood. That stretches a few minutes into a signal one weekly injection can hold. Everything these drugs do follows from one receptor staying switched on far longer than your body ever intended.

◆ Receptor targets1 of 4 · GLP-1 alone
4What each receptor does — 4 rows in the data table
Receptors targeted by Liraglutide, and what each receptor does
ReceptorLiraglutideWhat it does
GLP-1targetedpancreatic isletTells the pancreas to release more insulin, but only while blood sugar is already climbing, and to hold back glucagon at the same time. Because it acts only when sugar is rising, this class does not on its own push blood sugar below normal the way insulin or a sulfonylurea can.stomach and gutSlows how fast food leaves your stomach, so a meal empties gradually and you stay full for longer. This is also where the nausea, early fullness and constipation come from. The effect people want and the effect they complain about are the same effect.hindbrain and hypothalamusActs on the parts of the brain that decide when a meal is over and how appealing food seems. Appetite drops rather than having to be fought off, and most of the weight effect comes from here — not from the stomach.
GIPnot targeted—
Glucagonnot targeted—
Amylinnot targeted—

The same four receptor groups are shown for every drug, so the differences are easy to compare. Targets come from the drug class. Any result specific to Liraglutide comes from the cited sources.

Single-target GLP-1 drugs are the yardstick for every newer molecule. They act on one receptor, and their effects are well mapped. Stomach and gut side effects often limit how high the dose can go. Dual and triple agonists add other receptors in an effort to push past that limit.

What repeated daily dosing accumulates to

A new dose can arrive before the prior one has cleared. The amount then rises toward a steady pattern over several doses. The curve uses one cited figure: the 13 hours half-life. It is arithmetic, not a measurement of anyone’s blood.

◆ How repeated doses build uplong-term peak ≈ 1.39× one dose

Estimated amount compared with one dose, taken once daily. Based on the cited half-life, not on blood test results.

7Exact values — 7 rows in the data table
Liraglutide — exposure after each once daily dose, as a multiple of a single dose, computed from the cited half-life
DayJust after that doseJust before the next doseToward long-term level
11.00×0.28×72%
21.28×0.36×92%
31.36×0.38×98%
41.38×0.38×99%
51.38×0.38×100%
61.38×0.39×100%
long-term level1.39×0.39×100%

This is a math estimate based on the cited half-life of 13 hours. Each dose is added to what has not yet left the body, so the curve rises toward 1.39× one dose — within 5% of that level by day 3. This is not a measured blood level and does not predict one person’s result. Source of the half-life: Victoza (liraglutide) injection — FDA-approved Prescribing Information (DailyMed) · retrieved 2026-08-15.

What the evidence for Liraglutide is

The dosing numbers come from an FDA-approved prescribing label. FDA reviewed the manufacturer’s studies before approving the product, and the label can change when new dosing or safety information appears.

FDA label
What it establishes
The schedule was tested for the approved use, FDA reviewed the results, and the approved product must meet manufacturing standards.
What it does not establish
It does not show that every dose step is right for every person. A clinician still has to consider health history, side effects and other medicines.

Use these numbers for the named product and approved use. A different brand, product form or use may have a different schedule.

Where Liraglutide is in clinical trials

412 registered studies; the program has reached phase 4, and 12 are still enrolling.

The soonest a running study expects to finish measuring people is August 2026. That is when the sponsor expects to finish collecting the main measurement. It is not a results date, and not a date anything goes on sale.

  • Phase 4Recruiting

    Liraglutide Treatment in Obese Infertile PCOS Women

    Peking University Third Hospital · PCOS, Obesity · 890 participants planned · started May 2025

    Main measurement due May 2029 (sponsor estimate)

    NCT06742710 on ClinicalTrials.gov

  • Phase 4Recruiting

    Efficacy and Safety of the Met+SGLT-2i+GLP-1RA in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes With Poor Glycemic Control

    Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. · T2DM (Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus) · 430 participants planned · started March 2025

    Main measurement due December 2027 (sponsor estimate)

    NCT07244003 on ClinicalTrials.gov

  • Phase 4Recruiting

    Effects of GH and Lirglutide on AgRP

    Columbia University · Healthy, Growth Hormone Deficiency · 40 participants planned · started May 2023

    Main measurement due April 2028 (sponsor estimate)

    NCT05681299 on ClinicalTrials.gov

A registered study means a sponsor filed a plan and started enrolling. It is not evidence the drug works, and most drugs tested in people never reach a pharmacy. Sponsors write and update these sources themselves; the National Library of Medicine publishes them without checking them.

ClinicalTrials.gov · retrieved 2026-08-23

Every compound we track, and what stage each one has reached →

Regulatory status

FDA has approved liraglutide as Victoza and Saxenda, with generic versions tied to the Victoza application.

The approved products are prefilled pens, not powder vials, and their product labels are not interchangeable dosing instructions.

Full regulatory tracker →

Where to go next on Liraglutide

The schedule, the side effects and the mixing math each have their own page.

Every reaction on the liraglutide page, with its frequency

6 common and 4 serious liraglutide reactions, each carrying its own source.

Liraglutide dosing evidence, without an approved schedule

No supported individual dose was found for liraglutide, so none is estimated.

The Victoza product overview, beyond liraglutide

Victoza is Liraglutide, with 3 approved uses read separately from liraglutide.

Saxenda as a product, not only liraglutide as a molecule

The Saxenda label starts at 0.6 mg and tops out at 3 mg, apart from liraglutide.

Where liraglutide sits among the weight loss compounds

15 compounds people take for weight loss, and what each was measured against, with liraglutide as one example

What the pemvidutide page carries, separate from liraglutide

5 sourced pemvidutide reactions, on its own page, separate from liraglutide.

Survodutide on its own page, separate from liraglutide

Survodutide has published human trial data, separate from liraglutide.

VK2735 on its own page, separate from liraglutide

VK2735 has published human trial data, separate from liraglutide.

Mazdutide in the full list, alongside liraglutide

No published half-life for mazdutide, cited apart from liraglutide.

The source-checked zenagamtide entry, beyond the liraglutide one

No regulator has approved zenagamtide — beyond liraglutide.

Safety notes

  • Choose the named product before reading a schedule; Victoza and Saxenda are not one combined ladder
  • The labeled presentations are prefilled pens, so vial reconstitution arithmetic does not apply

Questions about Liraglutide

Is Liraglutide FDA-approved?

Yes — it is sold as Victoza and Saxenda. That is why the schedule on this site is quoted from a label rather than summarized from a study.

How is Liraglutide taken?

No completed controlled human trial has established a dose, frequency, or route, so no human schedule is published.

How does Liraglutide differ from the other compounds in this class?

It acts at GLP-1 alone. The nearest alternatives act elsewhere: Tirzepatide (GIP + GLP-1), Retatrutide (GIP + GLP-1 + glucagon), Cagrilintide (amylin), Survodutide (glucagon + GLP-1), Mazdutide (glucagon + GLP-1), VK2735 (GIP + GLP-1), Zenagamtide (GLP-1 + amylin), Pemvidutide (glucagon + GLP-1). Adding or removing a receptor changes both the effect and how much of it people can tolerate, so these molecules are not swappable at the same number of milligrams. Comparing them milligram for milligram is the most common mistake in this category.

What is not known about Liraglutide?

It does not show that every dose step is right for every person. A clinician still has to consider health history, side effects and other medicines.

Is there a Liraglutide dosing schedule on this site?

Not a schedule — there is no approved schedule to publish here. What you get instead is the trial dosing program: the doses each arm received and how the protocol worked up to them. See what the trials tested.

2primary sources, each with the day we read it — open the documents used on this page