Liraglutide (Saxenda, Victoza)

🧬What is it?

Liraglutide is a medicine made from a peptide. It is in the same family as semaglutide (GLP-1 medicines). It is sold as Saxenda and Victoza. You need a prescription.

💬Why do people use it?

Saxenda is used with diet and exercise to help adults, and kids 12 and older with obesity, lose weight and keep it off. Victoza helps control blood sugar in people 10 and older with type 2 diabetes. It also lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke in adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

🔬Does it really work?

This one is proven and FDA-approved for those uses.

⚠️Is it safe? Side effects

• The most common side effects on the Victoza label are feeling sick, diarrhea, throwing up, less hunger, upset stomach, and constipation.
• The label has a boxed warning: it caused thyroid tumors in rats and mice. Nobody knows if this happens in people.
• People with a personal or family history of a rare thyroid cancer (MTC) or MEN 2 should not use it.
• The label also warns about pancreas swelling (pancreatitis) and gallbladder problems.

⚖️Is it legal in the US?

Yes. Saxenda and Victoza are FDA-approved. (The FDA is the US agency that checks if medicines are safe and work.)

🩺Talk to your doctor

Do not start any peptide on your own. Ask a doctor first. We never share doses or tell you where to buy. Print our doctor questions sheet.