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Lir7.5
Liraglutide Research
Too few graded studies
436 peer-reviewed studies
What the evidence says
Too few graded studies
Liraglutide doesn't have enough studies with structured effect-size data yet to pool a verdict. Browse the studies below for individual findings.
Most evidence is from high-quality meta-analyses and randomised trials published 2009–2026 with a typical study size of 3,731 participants.
Based on 436 studies · 73 meta-analyses · 334 RCTs · 33,326 total participants
Confidence
High confidence
By outcome
Blood sugar & glycemic controlConsistent HbA1c reductions across the phase-3 LEAD program; superior to glimepiride and exenatide head-to-head · Weeks to months
Too few graded studies243 studies
Weight managementMean ~8 kg (≈8%) loss at 3.0 mg over 56 weeks in adults with obesity without diabetes (SCALE); ~6% in type 2 diabetes · Months (titrated over weeks)
Too few graded studies125 studies
Cardiovascular outcomes13% relative reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events and 22% reduction in CV death in the dedicated LEADER trial · Months to years
Too few graded studies45 studies
Safety & adverse effects
Too few graded studies31 studies
Liver & NASH
Too few graded studies17 studies
Active research area
166 studies in the last 5 years · Latest meta-analysis: 2026
200920172026
1Meta-Analysis2026
In plain English: There have been multiple developments in the domain of medications for long-term weight reduction in recent years.
Spary-Kainz U et al. · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews (2026)
Orlistat may have little to no effect on cardiovascular morbidity compared to placebo, but the evidence is very uncertain (1.9% versus 0.7% in one trial and 17% versus 19% in another trial; 2 trials, 1721 participants; very low certainty evidence).
Orlistat probably increases serious adverse events (SAEs) compared to placebo (RR 1.45, 95% CI 1.10 to 1.91; 3 trials, 1476 participants; moderate-certainty evidence).
There may be little to no difference in all adverse events (AEs) between orlistat and placebo, but the evidence is very uncertain (RR 1.13, 95% CI 0.84 to 1.54; 2 trials, 1386 participants; very low-certainty evidence).
In plain English: Liraglutide likely increases the proportion of people achieving at least 5% weight loss at medium-term follow-up; this effect is likely to be sustained at longer-term follow-up.
Meza N, Bracchiglione J, Escobar Liquitay CM, Madrid E, Varela LB, Guo Y, Urrútia G, Er S, Tiller S, Shokraee K, Alvarez Busco F, Solà I, Ocara Vargas M, Novik A V, Poloni D, Franco JV. · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews (2025)
Liraglutide may increase any adverse events (RR 1.07, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.11; I² = 28%; 16 studies, 8147 participants; low-certainty evidence) and serious adverse events (RR 1.20, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.43; I² = 0%; 20 studies, 8487 participants; low-certainty evidence).
Liraglutide likely results in little to no clinically meaningful difference in MACE (RR 0.86, 95% CI 0.66 to 1.10; I² = 0%; 6 studies, 5762 participants; moderate-certainty evidence).
Liraglutide likely results in little to no difference in quality of life measured by the IWQOL-Lite-CT physical function (MD 2.90, 95% CI -0.08 to 5.89; I² = 58%; 6 studies, 3733 participants; moderate-certainty evidence).
In plain English: The primary outcome occurred in significantly fewer patients in the liraglutide group (608 of 4668 patients [13.0%]) than in the placebo group (694 of 4672 [14.9%]) (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.97; P<0.001 for noninferiority; P=0.01 for superiority).
Marso SP, Daniels GH, Brown-Frandsen K, Kristensen P, Mann JFE, Nauck MA, Nissen SE, Pocock S, Poulter NR, Ravn LS, Steinberg WM, Stockner M, Zinman B, Bergenstal RM, Buse JB; LEADER Steering Committee. · N Engl J Med (2016)
Double-blind cardiovascular-outcomes RCT: 9,340 patients with type 2 diabetes and high cardiovascular risk, liraglutide or placebo added to standard care, median follow-up 3.8 years.
First major adverse cardiovascular event (CV death, nonfatal MI or nonfatal stroke) reduced 13% (HR 0.87, 95% CI 0.78-0.97, P = 0.01 for superiority).
Cardiovascular death lower with liraglutide (4.7% vs 6.0%, HR 0.78) and all-cause death lower (8.2% vs 9.6%, HR 0.85). Nonfatal MI, nonfatal stroke and heart failure hospitalization were lower but not significantly.