Liraglutide
Saxenda (Chronic weight management) · Victoza (Type 2 diabetes)
The first-generation daily GLP-1. Lower efficacy than the weekly agents, but generic entry has made it the cheapest genuine GLP-1 option and a credible step-therapy rung.
- Vendors covering
- 7
- Administration
- Once-daily subcutaneous injection
- List cost
- Substantially below the weekly agents, and falling further as generics establish
Vendor coverage
Who prescribes Liraglutide, and on what terms
The access column is the one that moves your budget. First-line means an eligible member can start immediately; escalation means a documented lower-cost trial comes first.
| Vendor | Access | Gating | Score | PMPM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omada Health Reviews Liraglutide Coaching companion | Companion support | None from Omada. | 8.4 | $32–$58 |
| Form Health Reviews Liraglutide Full-service clinical | First-line | Clinician judgment within the step-therapy protocol. | 8.0 | $58–$105 |
| Teladoc Health Reviews Liraglutide Navigation & orchestration | Adjunct | Employer-configured. | 7.4 | $18–$44 |
| 9amHealth Reviews Liraglutide Metabolic specialist | Adjunct | Within the step-therapy protocol, ahead of the weekly agents. | 7.3 | $34–$72 |
| Calibrate Reviews Liraglutide Full-service clinical | Adjunct | Clinician judgment. Not positioned as a required rung before the weekly agents. | 7.2 | $65–$110 |
| Transcarent Reviews Liraglutide Navigation & orchestration | Orchestrated | Employer-configured. | 7.1 | $12–$32 |
| WeightWatchers Clinic Reviews Liraglutide Consumer-brand clinical | Adjunct | Clinician judgment. | 6.9 | $30–$68 |
Clinical profile
How Liraglutide works
- Mechanism
- Single GLP-1 receptor agonist with a shorter half-life than the weekly agents, requiring daily administration to maintain effect.
- Administration
- Once-daily subcutaneous injection. Daily dosing is the main adherence disadvantage versus weekly agents.
- Titration
- Weekly dose escalation over roughly a month to the maintenance dose — a substantially shorter ladder than the weekly agents.
- Typical result
- Average body-weight reduction in the high single digits as a percentage — roughly half what the newer agents produce, though achieved faster and at a fraction of the cost.
- List cost
- Substantially below the weekly agents, and falling further as generics establish
Known side effects
- Gastrointestinal effects similar in kind to the weekly agents
- Injection-site reactions somewhat more common given daily administration
- Class boxed warning regarding thyroid C-cell tumors observed in rodents
For benefits teams
What Liraglutide means for your budget
This is your step-therapy rung
Generic availability makes liraglutide the only GLP-1 that can sit meaningfully below the weekly agents on cost. A vendor that will genuinely trial it before escalating has a real cost-control mechanism; one that lists it and never uses it does not.
Adherence is the honest tradeoff
Daily injection produces worse persistence than weekly dosing. A step-therapy protocol built on this molecule needs to distinguish members who failed on efficacy from members who failed on adherence, because they warrant different escalation decisions.