Saxenda half-life

Saxenda is liraglutide, taken daily, with an elimination half-life of about 13 hours. The prescribing information puts steady state at 2 to 3 days. Pick a scenario to see the modeled level build, dip after a missed dose, or fade after stopping. Nothing is stored, and no account is needed.

Modeled level as a percent of the steady peak. Baseline ticks mark doses. The tinted band is the steady rhythm.

In this model, levels come within 10% of the steady peak after 3 on-time daily doses. The prescribing information puts steady state at 2 to 3 days.

Elimination half-life: 13 hours
Dosing rhythm: Daily
Steady state, per the label: 2 to 3 days

Modeled from the elimination half-life and time to peak in each brand's FDA prescribing information. Real levels vary from person to person. This shows the shape, not your blood level.

Common questions

How long until Saxenda reaches steady levels?

The prescribing information puts steady state at 2 to 3 days of on-time daily doses. In this model, levels come within 10% of the steady peak after 3 doses, and each dose after that tops up a level that no longer changes much day to day.

What happens to levels if I miss a day?

In this model, one missed day lets the level slip to about 18% of the steady peak, compared with a usual low of about 61%; it does not fall to zero, and the rhythm settles back within about 3 doses after resuming. What to do about a missed dose is a question for your pharmacist or prescriber and the brand's official instructions; this page only models the level.

How long does Saxenda stay in your system after stopping?

Saxenda is liraglutide, with an elimination half-life of about 13 hours. In this model, levels fall below half of the steady peak about 29 hours after the last dose and below 10% about 3 days after it. The usual pharmacology rule of thumb treats a medicine as essentially cleared after about 5 half-lives, about 3 days here.

Why show percent of steady state instead of a blood level?

A real concentration in ng/mL depends on dose size, body weight, and absorption differences that public data cannot pin down for any one person. The shape of the curve depends only on the published half-life and time to peak, so the honest way to draw it is relative to its own steady peak: how fast it builds, how gently one missed dose lands, and how slowly it fades.

Why is Saxenda a daily dose?

Liraglutide's elimination half-life is about 13 hours, so a daily injection keeps the level in a steady rhythm. The weekly GLP-1 medicines are different molecules with half-lives of several days, which is what makes a weekly rhythm possible.

Where the numbers come from

Two label facts per molecule drive everything on this page: the elimination half-life and the time to peak, both from the FDA prescribing information. The curve is a standard one-compartment model built only from those two numbers and the dosing schedule, shown as a percent of the steady peak precisely because an absolute blood level cannot be derived from public data. See how we calculate.

liraglutide: Saxenda FDA prescribing information (liraglutide)

Other medications

Wondering about weight instead?

The Saxenda weight loss calculator projects the published trial curve onto your start weight, and GLP-1 dosing and titration explained covers why doses step up slowly.

General information, not medical advice. This page models an average curve from label averages; it is not your blood level, and it never tells you when to take a dose. Missed-dose instructions live in your brand's prescribing information and with your pharmacist or prescriber.

Track the doses themselves

This page models an average curve. Log your actual doses in SteadyRange and see them alongside your weight, glucose, and time in range, on a private log you control.

Start a free log Project weight on a GLP-1