Liraglutide
The first GLP-1 approved for weight loss; injected daily.
FDA-approved: Saxenda (weight), Victoza (type 2 diabetes); generics available.
Used for
- Weight loss
- Type 2 diabetes
How it works
A GLP-1 agonist with a 13-hour half-life, so it needs a daily shot.
Half-life: about 13 hours
What the research shows
- SCALE (56 weeks): 3.0 mg daily lost 8.4 kg vs 2.8 kg on placebo.
Dosing
Dosing isn’t listed on the public site. In the app, each published option is shown with its source (a drug label, a clinical guideline, a trial or community reports) and can be turned into a protocol you review.
Work out the units to draw for your vial →Side effects
- Nausea, especially after a dose step
- Constipation or diarrhea
- Reflux, burping
- Lower appetite and thirst: dehydration risk
Cautions
- Not for anyone with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN2.
- Pancreatitis and gallbladder problems are uncommon but reported; severe belly pain needs urgent care.
- Rapid weight loss costs muscle too: keep protein high and keep lifting.
- Stop before planned surgery or sedation per your doctor (slower stomach emptying).
Storage
Unmixed or unopened: Fridge (2–8 °C) before first use. Never freeze, and do not store next to the cooling element; protect from heat and sunlight.
Mixed or in use: After first use the pen keeps 30 days at 15–30 °C or in the fridge. Cap on, needle off between uses.
From the Liraglutide injection (Lupin) label.
Stability once mixed
Built to last, with a fatty-acid side chain; the pen is labelled 30 days in use, room temperature or fridge. A vial you mix yourself is a different formulation, so that is the pen’s number, not yours.
Heat, shaking, freezing a mixed vial, light and many needle punctures all speed breakdown. Toss it if it turns cloudy, grows specks or changes color.
Interactions
With insulin or a sulfonylurea it can cause low blood sugar; the label suggests considering a lower dose of those drugs when starting.
It slows stomach emptying, which could change how pills are absorbed. The label found no clinically relevant effect on the drugs tested but advises caution.
Not a full list. Tell your doctor and pharmacist everything you take.
More in Weight & metabolic
Reference only, not medical advice. Written for this app from the cited research. Doses marked community-reported are not from trials.