Victoza (liraglutide, diabetes label) side effects
Victoza's FDA label lists 6 common reactions, 7 serious warnings and 2 contraindications, plus a boxed warning. All of them are below in the label's own order; any percentage is the label's own figure, and nothing here is a recommendation.
No clinician has reviewed this page. Label and trial statements are quoted from the FDA label or the trial cited beside them. General guidance is marked as such, and every price carries the date it was verified. That is sourcing, not medical review. What we do and do not check · Who checked the price
Last updated 2025-11-17 — the version of the FDA label this page quotes. Read and dated by Alex Seot.
What are the side effects of Victoza?
The FDA label for Victoza lists nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite and indigestion among the reactions reported in at least 5% of patients. It carries a boxed warning, the strongest the FDA issues: In both sexes of rats and mice this molecule caused thyroid C-cell tumors at clinically relevant exposures. The label's serious warnings include acute pancreatitis; hypoglycemia with an insulin secretagogue or insulin; acute kidney injury from volume depletion; and severe gastrointestinal reactions. It is contraindicated in 2 cases, among them a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or MEN 2, meaning the label says not to prescribe it at all. Every line above is quoted from FDA prescribing information for VICTOZA rather than summarized from a secondary source, because a side-effect list paraphrased twice stops being the label. That label version was published 2025-11-17. Frequencies are not repeated here second-hand: the percentage table lives in the label itself, which is linked on the page.
Boxed warning — the strongest warning the FDA issues
In both sexes of rats and mice this molecule caused thyroid C-cell tumors at clinically relevant exposures. Whether it does so in people is unknown, and the label carries that as a boxed warning. It is contraindicated outright with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2.
Common, and usually manageable
Reactions the label reports in at least 5% of patients.
- nausea
- diarrhea
- vomiting
- decreased appetite
- indigestion
- constipation
Approved for type 2 diabetes rather than for weight. Saxenda is the same molecule at a higher dose with a weight-management approval.
Serious, and worth knowing before you start
- Acute pancreatitis, including fatal and non-fatal hemorrhagic or necrotizing pancreatitis: persistent or severe abdominal pain, sometimes radiating to the back. The label says to stop the drug if it is suspected
- Never share a pen between patients, even with a new needle (5.3) — sharing risks passing on blood-borne infection
- Hypoglycemia with an insulin secretagogue or insulin. In the pediatric trial, patients aged 10 and older were at higher risk on Victoza whether or not they were taking insulin or metformin
- Acute kidney injury from volume depletion, in some cases needing dialysis, reported mostly in people who became dehydrated through nausea, vomiting or diarrhea
- Severe gastrointestinal reactions: 4.4% at 1.2 mg and 4.2% at 1.8 mg against 1.1% on placebo. Not recommended in severe gastroparesis
- Hypersensitivity reactions including anaphylaxis and angioedema, reported after marketing and a reason to stop the drug
- Acute gallbladder disease: an acute event such as cholelithiasis or cholecystitis in 3.1% of Victoza-treated patients against 1.9% on placebo in the LEADER trial
- Pulmonary aspiration during general anesthesia or deep sedation: the drug delays gastric emptying, and stomach contents have been found despite normal preoperative fasting. Tell any surgeon or anesthesiologist you are taking it
Who cannot take it
- A personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or MEN 2
- A prior serious hypersensitivity reaction to liraglutide or any excipient
Each of these, on its own
What the label says, why it happens, how it tracks the dose schedule and the point at which it stops being ordinary.
Everything on Victoza
- Victoza price and terms →
- Victoza cost without insurance →
- Alternatives to Victoza →
- Victoza dose schedule →
- How to inject Victoza →
- How long Victoza takes to work →
- Which labels record what happens when you stop →
- Hair loss: which of the labels name it →
- Alcohol: what the labels say, and what they do not →
- liraglutide: every product and price →
- Hone Health: the seller →
- Saxenda: the drug →
Questions
- What are the most common side effects of Victoza?
- The label lists nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, constipation among reactions reported in at least 5% of patients. The full frequency table is in the label itself, linked below; any percentage quoted on this page is the label's own figure.
- Who should not take it?
- The label contraindicates it in these cases: A personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or MEN 2; A prior serious hypersensitivity reaction to liraglutide or any excipient.
- Do the side effects mean the price is not the issue?
- They meet at titration. Most of these reactions are worst in the weeks after a dose increase, and those are also the weeks when some sellers charge a lower starting price. So the months people are most likely to stop are not the months that show what the drug costs. The maintenance price is on the Victoza price page.
Source: FDA prescribing information for VICTOZA, the version published 2025-11-17. Information only, not medical advice: a side effect you are having is a conversation with your prescriber, not with a comparison site.