Victoza (liraglutide, diabetes label) side effects
Taken from the FDA label, in the label's own order: what is common, what is serious, and who cannot take it at all. No percentages are repeated second-hand and nothing here is a recommendation.
No clinician has reviewed this page. Every clinical statement on it is drawn from the FDA label or the trial cited beside it, and every price carries the date it was verified — but that is sourcing, not medical review, and the two are not the same thing. What we do and do not check · Who checked the price
Last updated 2025-10-14 — 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, diarrhoea, vomiting, decreased appetite, 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 tumours at clinically relevant exposures. The serious reactions the label names separately are Acute pancreatitis, Gallbladder disease, Hypoglycaemia when used with insulin or an insulin secretagogue, Acute kidney injury from dehydration among others — rarer than the common list and the reason the label exists in the form it does. It is contraindicated in A personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma, or MEN 2, A prior serious hypersensitivity reaction to liraglutide or any excipient, meaning the label says not to prescribe it in those cases at all rather than to weigh it up. That label version was published 2025-10-14. Approved for type 2 diabetes rather than for weight.
Boxed warning — the strongest warning the FDA issues
In both sexes of rats and mice this molecule caused thyroid C-cell tumours 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
- diarrhoea
- 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
- Gallbladder disease
- Hypoglycaemia when used with insulin or an insulin secretagogue
- Acute kidney injury from dehydration
- Pulmonary aspiration under general anaesthesia
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
Questions
- What are the most common side effects of Victoza?
- The label lists nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting, decreased appetite, indigestion, constipation among reactions reported in at least 5% of patients. A frequency table with exact percentages is in the label itself, linked below — we do not restate percentages second-hand.
- 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 are the same issue. The reactions above are worst during titration, and titration is exactly when providers charge an introductory rate — so the months you are most likely to stop are the months priced to look cheap. What the maintenance dose costs is on the card.
Source: FDA prescribing information for VICTOZA, the version published 2025-10-14. Information only, not medical advice: a side effect you are having is a conversation with your prescriber, not with a comparison site.