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Lir7.5
Liraglutide Research
Mostly mechanism / observational
393 peer-reviewed studies
What the evidence says
Mostly mechanism / observational
Most Liraglutide studies are mechanism or observational rather than RCTs that measure a clinical effect — keep findings provisional.
Most evidence is from high-quality meta-analyses and randomised trials published 2009–2026 with a typical study size of 3,132 participants.
Based on 393 studies · 60 meta-analyses · 325 RCTs · 41,601 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
Mostly mechanism / observational227 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)
Mostly mechanism / observational103 studies
Cardiovascular outcomes13% relative reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events and 22% reduction in CV death in the dedicated LEADER trial · Months to years
Mostly mechanism / observational42 studies
Safety & adverse effects
Mostly mechanism / observational20 studies
Liver & NASH
Mostly mechanism / observational16 studies
Active research area
122 studies in the last 5 years · Latest meta-analysis: 2026
200920172026
1Meta-Analysisn=3,132 · very large study2026
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).
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 (up to 1.8 mg/day) vs placebo, 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)