Liraglutide

Liraglutide was the GLP-1 that proved the class could do more than lower blood sugar, and it is still the only one in wide use that requires a shot every day rather than once a week. It is sold under two brand names with two different jobs. Saxenda is the weight-management product; Victoza is the type 2 diabetes product.

The dose ladders differ, and that is the whole distinction. Victoza’s label starts at 0.6 mg once daily for a week, moves to 1.2 mg, and tops out at 1.8 mg daily for glycemic control. Saxenda uses the same starting point but keeps climbing to a recommended dose of 3 mg daily, through 1.2, 1.8 and 2.4 mg along the way. Same molecule, nearly double the dose for weight.

The daily schedule is a consequence of chemistry. Liraglutide’s elimination half-life is about 13 hours, which the label explicitly gives as the reason it suits once-daily dosing. Semaglutide and tirzepatide last long enough to cover a week; liraglutide does not. That is a meaningful practical difference — 365 injections a year versus 52.

On effect size, liraglutide is the modest option. SCALE Diabetes reported 6.0% weight loss at 3.0 mg in people with type 2 diabetes, and SCALE Maintenance reported a further 6.2% in people who had already dieted down. The LEADER trial established its cardiovascular benefit, and Victoza carries a cardiovascular indication on its label. Like the rest of the class, it carries a boxed warning about rodent thyroid C-cell tumors and is contraindicated with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2.

Worth asking your clinician: whether a daily injection is sustainable for you, whether a weekly agent is covered instead, and whether a lower-cost daily option makes sense if the weekly drugs are unaffordable. Our Victoza evidence review compares them.