Liraglutide program | Evidence beside expectations

See both groups in the main weight study

SCALE studied adults without diabetes.

The comparison treatment was a dummy one, known as a placebo.

The study reports weight in kilograms, written as kg.

Over 56 weeks in SCALE, people on liraglutide lost an average of 8.4 kg, about 18.5 pounds.

People on the dummy shot lost an average of 2.8 kg, about 6.2 pounds, over the same 56 weeks.

These are average weight changes in the SCALE study, not a personal target.

Ask how closely the people in that study resemble your own situation. Also ask what a care review would look for besides a weight change.

STEP 8 compared liraglutide with semaglutide.

Semaglutide is another medicine in the same family as liraglutide.

In STEP 8, average weight loss on liraglutide was 6.4% after 68 weeks.

In that study, the semaglutide group lost 15.8% on average after 68 weeks.

Keep the study length and the treatment names attached to the figures.

The people taking part and the study staff knew which shot each person got.

Ask the health professional whether knowing which shot was used affects how much they trust the results.

The maker of both medicines funded the comparison trial.

The result mentioned in the offer

Which study it comes from

Who took part and how long it ran

What it was compared with

What I still want the health professional to explain

Keep these notes open while you work, or copy them before leaving the page. Nothing here sends your answers to a care service.

Look for a clear answer to those questions before turning a group result into an expectation for your own care.

Open the notes behind this answer

The published study results used here were checked in September 2026.

The links lead to abstracts: short accounts of the published papers.