This article is for information only. Saxenda is a prescription medicine requiring a doctor's assessment. Nothing here is medical advice.
What Saxenda is
Saxenda is liraglutide, injected once a day. It was the first GLP-1 weight-management drug to become widely used, and it belongs to an earlier generation than Wegovy.
The mechanism is the same GLP-1 imitation. The difference is how long the molecule lasts in the body — not long enough for weekly dosing, which is why it is a daily injection.
How much weight comes off
In the SCALE trial, participants lost about 8% of body weight over 56 weeks. Set against Wegovy's roughly 14.9% and Mounjaro's roughly 20.9%, it is the smallest of the three.
- •About 8 kg for someone at 100 kg
- •An older drug, and the results show it
- •In exchange, it has the longest real-world safety record of the three
Side effects
The list is effectively the same as Wegovy's, because the mechanism is the same.
- •Nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation lead the list
- •Injection-site reactions — potentially more often, since you inject daily
- •Pancreatitis and gallbladder problems — rare but real
- •Contraindicated with a history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN2
Daily dosing cuts both ways. It is more work, but it also means the dose can be adjusted quickly and the drug clears faster if you stop.
Who it might suit
The weight-loss numbers are the weakest of the three, but daily dosing offers finer control for people who want it. Which drug fits depends on weight, other conditions, side-effect history and cost — a judgement to make with a doctor, not from a comparison table.
Choosing a drug because it worked for someone else is risky. Contraindications and drug interactions differ from person to person.