Liraglutide dosing — common titration schedule

Liraglutide is a once-daily subcutaneous injection — unlike the newer once-weekly incretin medicines. Like them, it is titrated: you start low and step the dose up over several weeks so the body adapts and gastrointestinal side effects stay manageable.

The standard approved titration is a weekly step-up of 0.6 mg:

• Start: 0.6 mg once daily for the first week (a starter dose to reduce nausea, not expected to be fully effective).
• Increase by 0.6 mg each week as tolerated: 1.2 → 1.8 → 2.4 mg.
• Saxenda (weight management) target: 3.0 mg once daily.
• Victoza (type 2 diabetes) target: 1.8 mg once daily (1.2 mg is also a maintenance dose).

If an increase is not tolerated, staying longer at the lower dose is common.

Starting at the full dose would cause a lot of nausea, vomiting, and other GI effects. The weekly 0.6 mg steps give the gut time to adapt. If a step is not tolerated, a prescriber may delay it by a week or step back down. The starter dose is deliberately low for the same reason.

Liraglutide is injected under the skin (abdomen, thigh, or upper arm), once daily, at roughly the same time each day. It comes in a pre-filled multi-dose pen dialed to the desired amount.

• The approved pen delivers a measured dose, so the amount is fixed and verified.
• With raw research powder, the dose depends on reconstitution and on reading syringe units as volume — a frequent source of dosing errors.

Liraglutide affects blood glucose and interacts with other medicines and conditions. A prescriber screens for contraindications (such as a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2), monitors response, and adjusts the step-up. The schedule above is the map; a clinician and the approved labeling are how you use it safely.