Dosage guide
Saxenda dose escalation schedule
Week-by-week titration for Saxenda (liraglutide) — starting dose, step-up schedule, maintenance, maximum, and what to do if you miss a dose.
Starting dose
0.6 mg once daily
Maintenance
3 mg once daily (children who cannot tolerate 3 mg may stay on 2.4 mg)
Maximum dose
3 mg once daily
Dose form & administration
- Dose form
- Multi-dose prefilled pen, subcutaneous injection
- Dosing frequency
- Once daily, any time of day, without regard to meals
Titration timeline
FDA-labeled step-up schedule. Most clinicians follow this exactly, but may pause at a step for an additional 4 weeks if side effects are intolerable.
- 1
Week 1
0.6 mg/day
- 2
Week 2
1.2 mg/day
- 3
Week 3
1.8 mg/day
- 4
Week 4
2.4 mg/day
- 5
Week 5+
3 mg/day
Maintenance dose for adults; the lower doses are for titration only.
If a step-up is poorly tolerated
If a step is not tolerated, the label allows delaying the next increase by about a week. Adults who cannot tolerate 3 mg should stop, and the label says to stop if you have not lost at least 4% of your starting weight after 16 weeks.
Missed-dose protocol
Max skip window
Skip it; restart at 0.6 mg after more than 3 days
Skip the missed dose and take the next one as scheduled, with no extra or larger dose. If more than 3 days have passed since your last dose, restart at 0.6 mg a day and step up again.
When to contact your prescriber
- More than 3 days without a dose: the label restarts you at 0.6 mg.
- Side effects stop you from moving up to the next weekly step.
- Signs of pancreatitis or gallbladder disease.
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