Saxenda (Liraglutide)

Saxenda® is a weight loss drug containing the active ingredient liraglutide. It’s injected into the body each day to help you lose weight. The treatment works best when it’s combined with a reduced calorie diet and increased exercise programme.

How does Saxenda® work?

Simply put, Saxenda® works by making you feel less hungry and fuller when you eat.

Your body produces a hormone known as a glucagon-like-peptide (GLP-1), which helps you to naturally regulate your appetite. Liraglutide copies the action of this hormone, by reducing your appetite, which hopefully means you need to eat less, and you lose weight.

Who can take Saxenda®?

Saxenda® is suitable for people with:

• A BMI of 30 and over
• A BMI of 27 to 30 and have another weight-related ‘co-morbidity’ (e.g. high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnoea)

The drug always works best when paired with a low calorie, balanced diet and increased exercise programme.

Storage

Any Saxenda pens that haven’t been used should be kept in the fridge. After being used once, you can keep the pens either in the fridge or at room temperature.

Open pens must be thrown away after 30 days even if they have any treatment left in them. Pens need to be disposed of in sharps bins – you’ll be given one of these when you start using the treatment.

We’ll let you know how to get rid of the sharps bin and its contents when you’re prescribed treatment.