Liraglutide Cost in 2026: Saxenda, Victoza, Generic & Compounded Prices

Is compounded liraglutide actually available right now?

Yes — narrowly, and it's worth being precise about that, because most of the compounded-GLP-1 market moved on from liraglutide years ago. When semaglutide and tirzepatide went into shortage in 2022 and 2023, telehealth compounding built its entire supply chain and marketing around those two molecules. Liraglutide never had that same shortage-driven compounding boom, so when we went looking specifically for a provider still compounding it at real scale in 2026, most of what turned up was either dead links, providers that used to list it and no longer do, or pages advertising 'liraglutide' that actually redirect to semaglutide and tirzepatide products once you look closer.

One provider clears that bar: AgelessRx, an established telehealth and longevity brand, currently lists compounded liraglutide as a standing product — not a one-off promotion. It's priced from $149 for an introductory first shipment, settling at $289 a month after that, with no separate membership fee layered on top the way some GLP-1 telehealth platforms do. It ships to every state except Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota, and North Carolina.

Why so few others? Two forces are pushing in the same direction. First, demand: once semaglutide and tirzepatide became widely available compounded — and, for semaglutide, are now also available at low self-pay brand prices — most patients and prescribers who wanted a GLP-1 simply chose the newer molecule, and compounding pharmacies followed the volume. Second, regulatory status: liraglutide injection is still formally listed on the FDA's drug shortage database as of our most recent check, even though most individual pen presentations are reported as available — a murkier, in-between status compared with semaglutide's and tirzepatide's shortages, both declared fully resolved in 2025. Layered on top, the FDA proposed on April 30, 2026 to exclude semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide together from the 503B bulk drug substances list; the public comment period closed July 30, 2026, and no final rule has posted as of this writing. None of that has stopped a legitimate 503A provider from compounding liraglutide for a documented individual patient — it's just why so few bother.

What does brand Saxenda actually cost?

Saxenda's list price — what Novo Nordisk charges before any discount — is $1,349 a month. Almost nobody pays exactly that number, because it doesn't reflect pharmacy markup or any coupon. At the pharmacy counter with zero discount applied, cash prices run higher still and vary by chain: expect somewhere in the $1,550 to $1,656 range at a place like Walmart, CVS, or Walgreens.

A GoodRx coupon narrows that considerably. The lowest reported GoodRx price for Saxenda is around $372 a month, against an average cash price of roughly $1,268 without the coupon — a discount that can run past 70% depending on the pharmacy. Unlike Wegovy, Saxenda has no dedicated Novo Nordisk self-pay program to check first; GoodRx and SingleCare are the main levers for a cash-paying patient.

What does Victoza cost — the diabetes-dose brand?

Victoza is the same molecule as Saxenda, formulated at a lower daily dose and approved for type 2 diabetes rather than weight management. At retail with no discount, it runs roughly $1,000 to $1,400 a month depending on pharmacy and dose — commonly cited figures put a full month's supply of pens somewhere between about $1,160 and $1,400. Because Victoza carries a diabetes indication, insurance coverage for it tends to be more consistent than Saxenda's weight-management coverage, which is worth knowing before assuming either brand behaves like the other on your plan.

Is there a generic liraglutide now — and does it actually change the math?

Yes, and it matters, though not as dramatically as "generic" might suggest. Two separate generic liraglutide products now exist, tied to the two different doses and indications.

Generic liraglutide, diabetes dose

Teva launched the first generic liraglutide for the diabetes dose in mid-2024, and Hikma followed with its own FDA-approved version at the end of that year. On GoodRx, pricing splits by pen count rather than by a single number. A 2-pen fill, which covers the lower starter doses, is the cheaper of the two. A 3-pen fill, needed for the full 1.8mg maintenance dose because that strength burns through a pen every 10 days, costs meaningfully more. The advertised low end of any generic-liraglutide price you see is almost always the 2-pen starter number — it isn't what a maintenance dose actually costs month to month.

Generic Saxenda, weight-loss dose

The weight-management dose got its own generic much more recently. In August 2025, Teva launched the first-ever generic GLP-1 approved specifically for weight loss, at 3mg — the same strength as brand Saxenda. It's priced at about $1,165 a month, modestly but not dramatically below Saxenda's $1,349 list price. If you're comparing it against compounded liraglutide or even generic Ozempic-class options, it isn't the price breakthrough the word "generic" implies; Teva priced it as a discount off brand, not a race to the bottom.

Will insurance cover it — and what does the manufacturer savings card actually get you?

This is the part of liraglutide's pricing that doesn't mirror Wegovy's or Ozempic's, and it's worth being direct about it. Saxenda's own manufacturer savings offer — the program that used to bring copays down to around $25 a month for commercially insured patients — was discontinued for new enrollees as of June 30, 2023. Checking NovoCare's current Saxenda page and its general Diabetes Savings Card program directly turns up no active, broadly available Saxenda card at all; the diabetes card that remains lists Ozempic and Rybelsus, not Victoza.

There's one notable exception. On UnitedHealthcare commercial plans specifically, Saxenda is typically placed on a preferred formulary tier, and UHC members have reported reaching the familiar $25-a-month price through a card exception tied to that plan relationship. Outside of that specific combination, insured patients are generally paying their plan's regular formulary copay rather than a manufacturer-subsidized floor. That commonly lands in the low hundreds a month for either brand, though a specialty-tier placement without a card applied can run meaningfully higher.

Government insurance narrows things further. Medicare has excluded GLP-1 drugs prescribed specifically for weight management since Part D began, a statutory exclusion that predates any of the current GLP-1 boom, and the new Medicare GLP-1 Bridge pilot running through 2027 covers Wegovy, Zepbound, and Foundayo — not Saxenda. Medicaid coverage is a patchwork by state; as one example, California's Medi-Cal program dropped Saxenda from weight-loss coverage entirely as of January 1, 2026. If cost is the barrier and you don't have qualifying commercial insurance, Novo Nordisk's income-based Patient Assistance Program is worth asking about — it can provide either drug at no cost to patients who qualify, which is a different, need-based lever than a copay card.

How does liraglutide's cost compare to semaglutide or tirzepatide?

Badly, on price alone, and not much better on the trial results that usually justify the extra cost. Compounded semaglutide undercuts even AgelessRx's compounded liraglutide price, and semaglutide's own head-to-head trial against liraglutide showed meaningfully greater average weight loss. That full comparison — dosing, side effects, and a verdict by profile — lives on our dedicated page rather than repeated here.

What does a full year actually cost, by pathway?

• Compounded liraglutide (AgelessRx): roughly $3,300-$3,470/yr, blending the introductory first month with the $289/mo ongoing rate.
• Insurance, formulary copay (if covered): roughly $300-$3,600/yr, depending on your plan's tier and whether the narrower UnitedHealthcare/Saxenda card exception applies.
• Generic liraglutide, diabetes dose (GoodRx): roughly $2,712-$9,000/yr, depending on dose and coupon use.
• Brand Victoza, retail: roughly $12,000-$16,800/yr with no discount.
• Generic Saxenda, weight-loss dose: roughly $13,980/yr.
• Brand Saxenda + GoodRx coupon: roughly $4,464-$15,216/yr, depending heavily on pharmacy.
• Brand Saxenda, retail, no coupon: roughly $16,188-$19,872/yr — the most expensive way to fill either brand.

Is compounded or generic liraglutide legitimate and safe to buy?

The two questions have different answers. Teva's and Hikma's generic liraglutide products are FDA-approved — they've gone through the same manufacturing and bioequivalence review as any generic drug, and there's no meaningful safety question distinguishing them from brand Victoza or Saxenda beyond the usual generic-vs-brand considerations (inactive ingredients, pen device design).

Compounded liraglutide is a different category. It's prepared by a state-licensed 503A pharmacy for a specific patient rather than manufactured and reviewed by the FDA as a finished product — the same legal structure that applies to compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide. That means the FDA hasn't reviewed this specific compounded formulation for safety or effectiveness the way it has the brand or generic injections. Look for a provider that names its compounding pharmacy, discloses PCAB accreditation if it has one, and can explain plainly why it's using the 503A individual-patient pathway rather than treating cost alone as the justification.

Liraglutide and the perimenopause weight shift

Falling estrogen during perimenopause worsens insulin resistance and pushes fat storage toward the abdomen — a hormonal mechanism, not a willpower problem, and one that liraglutide's appetite and insulin-sensitivity effects can act on directly. It isn't the newest or strongest GLP-1 for that job; semaglutide's trial results are meaningfully better, as covered above. But for a woman already established on Victoza or Saxenda and doing well, there's no requirement to switch molecules just because a newer one exists.