- What is liraglutide?
- How does liraglutide work?
- How many types of liraglutide are there?
- How to take liraglutide
- Who can take liraglutide?
- Your prescription
- Side effects of liraglutide
- More information and support
What is liraglutide?
Liraglutide can be prescribed to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. It can also be prescribed to support people with weight loss. Liraglutide belongs to a group of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs or GLP-1s)– they are also known as GLP-1 analogues, GLP-1 agonists or incretin mimetics.
There are several different GLP-1 agonists available in the UK.
You can take liraglutide on its own or with other diabetes medications such as metformin, an SGLT-2 inhibitor, sulphonylureas or insulin.
How does liraglutide work?
Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is a naturally occurring hormone in the gut and is released after eating. Liraglutide is a medication that mimics the action of natural GLP-1.
It works by helping your body to produce more insulin when needed. It also reduces the amount of glucose, or sugar, produced by the liver, and slows down how quickly food is digested. This all helps to lower blood sugar levels and HbA1c.
Liraglutide can also lead to weight loss. This is because it slows down how food is digested, makes you full for longer and can reduce your appetite so you eat less.
How many types of liraglutide are there?
Liraglutide is available under five different brand names. Diavic and Zegluxen are type 2 diabetes medications, and Saxenda, Biolide, and Nevolat are weight loss medications.
New brands of GLP-1 are continually being developed so you may find that the brand of liraglutide you’ve been prescribed is not listed on this page. If you have any concerns or questions about your medication, it’s important to speak to your healthcare team.
How to take liraglutide
Liraglutide is an injection that you take once a day. Your healthcare team will give you more information about how to take liraglutide and how to inject. Make sure you are rotating your injection site to avoid skin problems.
Always take liraglutide exactly as your healthcare professional has told you. The Patient Information Leaflet inside the box will tell you how to take it, but always check with your healthcare professional if you are not sure.
Who can take liraglutide?
Type 2 diabetes
Liraglutide can be prescribed to adults aged 18 and over for type 2 diabetes management.
New guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE for short, recommend earlier use of GLP-1 medications for some groups of people. You’re more likely to be offered a GLP-1 such as liraglutide if you’re an adult with type 2 diabetes and:
- You were diagnosed before the age of 40
- Are living with obesity.
Your healthcare team will discuss your options to decide if this treatment is right for you based on your individual needs and circumstances. If you think that you would benefit from taking liraglutide for diabetes management, speak with your healthcare team so that you can make an informed decision together about your treatment.
NICE guidelines are used in England and Wales and tend to be endorsed and adopted in Northern Ireland. If you live in Scotland, care may be based on SIGN guidelines. Please speak to your healthcare team if you have any questions or concerns about your treatment.
Weight management
Adults aged 18 and over can take liraglutide for weight management alongside a reduced-calorie diet and physical activity.
NICE guidelines recommend liraglutide for adults who have a Body mass Index, known as BMI, of 35kg/m² or more, have prediabetes, and are at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
Liraglutide can only be prescribed by weight management services, so you will need to be referred to specialist NHS weight management services by your doctor, or privately through a registered healthcare professional.
Guidelines from NICE recommend – due to their risk from obesity-related health problems at a lower BMI – that people from Black African, African-Caribbean, Asian, South Asian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern backgrounds receive treatment with liraglutide at a lower BMI.
Can children take liraglutide?
Liraglutide is licensed to treat children and young people aged 10 and over with type 2 diabetes. NICE guidelines recommend it’s offered to children who meet certain eligibility criteria. Liraglutide is also licensed for weight management in children and young people aged 12 and over who live with obesity and weigh over 60kg, it’s usually only prescribed in specialist weight management clinics by specialist doctors.
Who can’t take liraglutide?
Some medications might not be suitable for some people, which might be because of medical conditions or other reasons. The list below shows some of the reasons why liraglutide might not be a suitable treatment for you:
- If you have end-stage kidney disease, you might not be able to take liraglutide;
- If you have severe liver disease, you might not be able to take liraglutide
- You might not be able to take liraglutide if you have severe problems with your digestion. You might also need to temporarily stop taking liraglutide if you’re going to have an operation;
- If you have thyroid disease, liraglutide might not be suitable for you;
- If you have severe heart failure, liraglutide might not be suitable for you;
- If you’ve had pancreatitis before, liraglutide might not be suitable for you. Your doctor will tell you to stop taking this medication if you have pancreatitis;
- Your doctor will tell you to stop taking liraglutide if you develop diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA;
- You should not take liraglutide if you are pregnant or breastfeeding. If you’re planning a pregnancy, speak with a healthcare professional if you are using this medication.
The patient information leaflet that comes with the medication will also have an up to date list of warnings and precautions. When you start a new medication, always check with your healthcare team that it’s suitable for you to take. You can discuss any other medical conditions you have and any other medications you are taking.
Your prescription
You may choose to access liraglutide for weight loss via private prescription. It is important that your prescriber completes the same assessment that an NHS healthcare team would carry out. This includes checking your medical history and body weight. This is to ensure liraglutide is the right medication for you and that it is safe.
You should only be given a prescription for liraglutide following an assessment by your healthcare team to make sure that you meet the criteria and that you’ll benefit from its use.
This should be an individual assessment that includes how liraglutide will fit into your current treatment plan and considers any diet or activity programme that you are following, as well as the risk of side effects, the dose you’ll need, and your personal choices.
Your healthcare team should explain your prescription to you but it's important to make sure you ask if you don't feel you know enough.
And make sure you talk to your GP or your diabetes team if you struggle to take liraglutide. They might be able to help by giving you a different dose.
In England, if you need to take any medication to manage your diabetes, your prescriptions will be free. Ask your healthcare team about a prescription exemption certificate if you don't have one, to make sure you don't get charged for your medication. Prescriptions are already free for everybody in the rest of the UK, so you shouldn't pay for your medication.
Liraglutide side effects
Common side effects of liraglutide can include:
- feeling sick (nausea)
- being sick (vomiting)
- diarrhoea
- constipation
- headache
- risk of low blood sugar
Risk of low blood sugar
When taken on its own, liraglutide does not often cause blood sugar levels to become too low, also called hypoglycaemia or hypos. However, hypos are more common when you take liraglutide with other diabetes medications, such as insulin or a sulphonylurea.
Your healthcare team may advise reducing the dose of your sulphonylurea or insulin when you start taking liraglutide to reduce the risk of hypos.
Risk of high blood sugar
If you take liraglutide with insulin and your insulin dose is reduced too quickly, it can cause high blood sugar levels or hyperglycaemia, also known as hypers, and there is an increased risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, also called DKA. Your healthcare team should discuss with you the signs and symptoms of DKA.
Risk of worsening retinopathy
If you have diabetic eye disease, known as diabetic retinopathy, and you're using insulin, then your retinopathy could get worse when you start liraglutide, and this might need treatment.
Tell your doctor if you have diabetic eye disease or if you experience eye problems during treatment with liraglutide.
These are not all the side effects. You will find a full list of known side effects in the Patient Information Leaflet. This comes in the medication box.
Like all medications, liraglutide can cause side effects. But when side effects are listed as common in the Patient Information Leaflet, it doesn’t mean that everyone who takes the medication will get them. Read more about GLP-1 agonist side effects.
The information about side effects is based on the likelihood of people having them. For example, if a side effect is very common, then it can affect more than one in ten people, and if a side effect is very rare, then it affects fewer than one in 10,000 people.
Because medicines can affect people differently, your healthcare team will speak to you about what’s best for you and discuss any side effects.
It’s also important that you take individual advice from your healthcare team before starting liraglutide treatment and report any side effects to your healthcare professionals if you experience any.
You can also report these side effects to the Yellow Card Scheme, which is the government system used for recording side effects with medicines in the UK.
More information and support
If you're worried about your medication, struggling with side effects, or want to know if it's right for you, speak with your healthcare team.
Still have more questions? Or is there anything you're not sure about liraglutide after reading this page? Contact our helpline on 0345 123 2399.
You can visit the NHS website for more information on liraglutide.
