A once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist; an earlier acylated analog. Structurally it is GLP-1 receptor agonist (acylated, 31 aa).

How strong is the evidence for Liraglutide?

PeptideHormone grades Liraglutide at the "Established" evidence tier — its mechanism and core effects are settled across the peer-reviewed literature. It is catalogued as an engineered analog built on an endogenous hormone, and the tier is an editorial judgment about the public literature that can change as the science does.

What is the half-life of Liraglutide?

The reported circulating half-life of Liraglutide is ~13 h.

Is Liraglutide the same as Victoza or Saxenda?

Victoza, and Saxenda are brand names of Liraglutide — the same molecule in different approved presentations. This page is the molecule reference, not a prescribing guide.

Liraglutide

A once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist; an earlier acylated analog.

Also known as Victoza, Saxenda.

AnalogEstablishedBased on Glucagon-like peptide-1Compare with GLP-1 Compare lineage

The daily precursor that established the trick — do not armour the peptide, tether it to something the body has already decided to keep.

Identity

Class: GLP-1 receptor agonist (acylated, 31 aa)
Source: Synthetic analog of human GLP-1
Receptor: GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R)

Key properties

Evidence floorClinicalREF1CLIN1

Molecular weight

~3,751.2 Da

REF

Half-life (native)

~13 h

CLIN

Model dosing

Approximate values for the native hormone; engineered analogs are often deliberately larger and far longer-acting. Each figure carries its own provenance tier, and the floor is the weakest of them - the Standard.

Mechanism

Liraglutide is a GLP-1 analog with a C16 fatty-acid acylation that promotes albumin binding and self-association, giving a ~13-hour half-life suited to once-daily dosing. It signals through the same GLP-1R cascade as native GLP-1.

The durability ladder. Liraglutide is the lit middle rung — the first analog to stretch GLP-1 from minutes into a day while keeping the hormone’s own face. Semaglutide climbed the same ladder to a week and left the daily pen behind.

In depth

Where exenatide borrowed its durability from a lizard, liraglutide built its own from chemistry. The molecule is nearly native GLP-1 — about 97% sequence identity, a single amino-acid swap — with a C16 fatty-acid chain grafted on. The chain does two jobs at once: it latches the peptide onto circulating albumin, sheltering it from the kidney, and it makes the peptides self-associate into slow-dissolving heaps at the injection site. Together those tricks stretch a two-minute hormone into a thirteen-hour drug — once-daily dosing from a molecule that still looks, to the receptor, like the hormone itself.

As Victoza in 2010 it was the first human-sequence GLP-1 analog, and for years it set the bar: better glucose control than anything before it, then a cardiovascular-outcome win in LEADER that first proved the class could protect the heart, not just the pancreas. As Saxenda it became the first GLP-1 approved for weight management — at a higher daily dose, in a population that had never had a pharmacological answer worth the name.

Its position now is the pioneer left holding the middle. Semaglutide kept liraglutide's human-sequence playbook and swapped the C16 chain for a C18 plus a DPP-4-shielding substitution, stretching thirteen hours into a week. The daily pen was beaten by its own student. But liraglutide remains the proof of concept for everything after: that you could keep the native hormone's face, change only its lifespan, and turn two minutes of biology into a decade of medicine.

Reference notes

About 97% sequence identity to native GLP-1, with one substitution and a fatty-acid chain.
Once-daily — an intermediate step between native GLP-1 and the weekly analogs.
Approved for type 2 diabetes and weight management.

Common questions

What is Liraglutide?: A once-daily GLP-1 receptor agonist; an earlier acylated analog. Structurally it is GLP-1 receptor agonist (acylated, 31 aa).
How does Liraglutide work?: Liraglutide is a GLP-1 analog with a C16 fatty-acid acylation that promotes albumin binding and self-association, giving a ~13-hour half-life suited to once-daily dosing. It signals through the same GLP-1R cascade as native GLP-1.
How strong is the evidence for Liraglutide?: PeptideHormone grades Liraglutide at the "Established" evidence tier — its mechanism and core effects are settled across the peer-reviewed literature. It is catalogued as an engineered analog built on an endogenous hormone, and the tier is an editorial judgment about the public literature that can change as the science does.
What is the half-life of Liraglutide?: The reported circulating half-life of Liraglutide is ~13 h.
Is Liraglutide the same as Victoza or Saxenda?: Victoza, and Saxenda are brand names of Liraglutide — the same molecule in different approved presentations. This page is the molecule reference, not a prescribing guide.

Selected literature

Curated peer-reviewed reviews, sourced from PubMed. Selected for relevance, not exhaustive — open any entry on PubMed for the full record and its primary citations.

1.GLP-1 physiology informs the pharmacotherapy of obesity · Molecular metabolism, 2022 · PMID 34626851
2.Medications for Obesity: A Review · JAMA, 2024 · PMID 39037780

External references

Liraglutide in the public knowledge graph — the same entity resolved across the authoritative chemistry and protein databases.