Victoza
An injectable medication used to treat type 2 diabetes and manage chronic weight.
Where Liraglutide is approved
All regulators →Of the three regulators tracked here, the first to approve Liraglutide was the EU, on 30 Jun 2009. It is approved in 3 of the 3 regulators tracked here.
- 1 EU orphan designation, most recently for treatment of Wolfram syndrome (18 Jul 2022, positive)
- 2 EU safety letters (DHPC), latest: medicine shortage for Ozempic / Victoza, 9 Aug 2024
From the regulators' own registers: FDA Drugs@FDA, the EMA medicines list and Health Canada's Notice of Compliance database. Dates are the first listed approval of a product containing only this substance; combination products and nationally authorised EU medicines are not counted.
Liraglutide patents and exclusivity
Expiry tracker →Protections still running for marketed products containing Liraglutide, as listed by the regulators. Expired patents and exclusivities, and discontinued products, are not shown.
- 1 listed patent; the last listed expires 9 Jul 2037 (US 9968659, including a 6-month paediatric extension).
Reproduced from the FDA Orange Book and Purple Book (checked 12 Oct 2026) and the European Commission's Union Register of medicinal products (CC BY 4.0; the EU expiry date is calculated exactly as the Commission's register displays it). Listed patents and dates are as submitted to or published by the regulator and may not reflect litigation, invalidation, settlements, lapsed fees or later extensions. This is not legal advice or a freedom-to-operate opinion, and it does not say when a generic or biosimilar will launch.
What health systems spend on Liraglutide
All medicines →From NHSBSA Prescription Cost Analysis (Open Government Licence v3.0) and CMS State Drug Utilization Data. Both are gross amounts: neither system publishes its discounts or rebates per drug. Products combining several substances are not counted here.
How Liraglutide works
All drug targets →- Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonist AgonistTarget: GLP1R glucagon like peptide 1 receptor✓ In ChEMBL and the Guide to Pharmacology
- Alzheimer diseasePhase 3
- HypoglycemiaPhase 3
- InfertilityPhase 3
- Mental deteriorationPhase 3
- Prader-Willi syndromePhase 3
- Weight lossPhase 3
- Binge eating disorderPhase 3
- Body weightPhase 3
- Cardiovascular disorderPhase 3
- Diabetic kidney diseasePhase 3
Mechanisms and diseases from ChEMBL via the Open Targets Platform (release 26.09), ChEMBL record CHEMBL4084119, CC BY-SA 3.0. Targets checked against the IUPHAR/BPS Guide to PHARMACOLOGY (2026.3), ligand 1133, CC BY-SA 4.0. Trial phases are not approvals: approved uses are shown from the regulators' own records where we hold them.
NICE appraisals of Liraglutide
All NICE appraisals →NICE, which decides whether the NHS in England should fund new medicines, has published 3 technology appraisals of Liraglutide. 3 are current, and 2 of these recommend it for at least some patients.
| Appraisal | NICE recommendation | Published | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Liraglutide for managing obesity in people aged 12 to 17 years (terminated appraisal) NICE TA749 | Terminated (no company submission) | 1 Dec 2021 | Current |
| Liraglutide for managing overweight and obesity NICE TA664 | Optimised | 9 Dec 2020 | Current |
| Liraglutide for the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus NICE TA203 | Recommended Optimised Not recommended | 27 Oct 2010 Updated 1 Dec 2014 | Current |
NICE decisions apply to the NHS in England. In Ireland the HSE decides on reimbursement, advised by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics. Titles, categories and dates link to the guidance on nice.org.uk. © NICE 2026 technology appraisal guidance. Available from www.nice.org.uk/guidance. All rights reserved. Subject to Notice of rights. NICE guidance is prepared for the National Health Service in England. All NICE guidance is subject to regular review and may be updated or withdrawn. NICE accepts no responsibility for the use of its content in this product/publication.
Patient leaflets for Liraglutide
The package leaflet is the official guide for patients that comes with every medicine. These links go to the regulators that publish it.
- IEIreland: 5 products on the HPRA listEach product record links to the HPRA, which publishes the leaflet and SmPC.
- EUEuropean Union: Ablymico, Liraglutide STADA, Saxenda, VictozaEMA product information: package leaflet and summary of product characteristics in every EU language.
- UKUnited Kingdom: Search MHRA ProductsPatient information leaflets and SmPCs for UK-licensed products.
- USUnited States: Search DailyMedFDA-approved labels, including patient and medication guides.
Leaflets differ between brands and countries; always read the one that comes with your own medicine. This is regulatory information, not medical advice.
What Victoza is used for
VICTOZA is indicated: • as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in patients 10 years and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus, • to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, or non-fatal stroke) in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and established cardiovascular disease [see Clinical Studies ( 14.3 )] . Limitations of Use : VICTOZA should not be used in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. VICTOZA contains liraglutide and should not be coadministered with other liraglutide-containing products. VICTOZA is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist indicated: • as an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in patients 10 years and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus (1) . • to reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitu…
How it works
12.1 Mechanism of Action Liraglutide is an acylated human Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist with 97% amino acid sequence homology to endogenous human GLP-1(7-37). GLP-1(7-37) represents <20% of total circulating endogenous GLP-1. Like GLP-1(7-37), liraglutide activates the GLP-1 receptor, a membrane-bound cell-surface receptor coupled to adenylyl cyclase by the stimulatory G-protein, Gs, in pancreatic beta cells. Liraglutide increases intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP) leading to insulin release in the presence of elevated glucose concentrations. This insulin secretion subsides as blood glucose concentrations decrease and approach euglycemia. Liraglutide also decreases glucagon …
Related clinical trials recruiting now
Compare Victoza with
Explore more
How this page is built
The facts on this page are pulled directly from official U.S. FDA datasets — they are not written from memory. Each field below names the dataset it came from, so you can check it yourself.
- FDA Drug Label (openFDA) ↗ Indications, mechanism of action and pharmacologic class
- Drugs@FDA ↗ First FDA approval date and the company holding the application
- FDA Drug Shortage Database ↗ Current US supply / shortage status
Plain-English summaries and drug-class explainers are written and reviewed by Sreepriya Prasannan (MSc Digital Transformation of Life Sciences (Innopharma Education / Griffith College); MSc & BSc Botany). Data is retrieved automatically from the sources above and cross-checked with AI-assisted verification (Anthropic's Claude) — brand and generic names are matched against the exact FDA product record so that a combination product or a different formulation cannot be mistaken for the drug on this page. An editor reviews the result before publication. We describe this in full in our editorial standards and corrections policy. The FDA data on this page was last retrieved on 5 Oct 2026. How every register is built: methodology · fixes we have made: corrections log.