How Saxenda Works: Regulating Appetite and Satiety
Saxenda is a weight loss medication containing Liraglutide. It is a daily injection that works by controlling your appetite, so you feel fuller and feel less hungry. Patients using Saxenda tend to eat less food and this helps reduce body weight.
Supply of Saxenda in Ireland requires a valid prescription from a doctor. Our online doctor service has a simple and conventient consultation option with a doctor for €20. Based on medical history and other medications, a prescription for Saxenda can be sent directly to us by the doctor for you.
- Saxenda comes in a box of 5 x 3ml pens, each pen containing 18mg of Liraglutide.
- Saxenda is injected once per day, preferably at the same time every day. It is given as an injection under the skin in the thigh, upper arm or belly. The dose is slowly increased over 4 weeks.
- The Saxenda starting dose is 0.6mg daily for one week and then increased by 0.6mg each week until you reach your maintenance dose which is usually 3mg daily.
- On a maintenance dose, each Saxenda pen will last 6 days.
- Saxenda pens can inject variable doses using an easy to use dial that can adjust the dose from 0.6mg, 1.2mg, 1.8mg, 2.4mg or 3mg
For information on dispensing prescriptions for Saxenda, please email prescriptions@inishpharmacy.com. Doctors in Ireland can send us your prescription directly via Healthmail to inish.buncrana@healthmail.ie.
Is Saxenda Effective For Weight Loss?
Saxenda has been shown to be effective at reducing body weight in 5 main studies involving over 5,800 adults who had obesity or were overweight. These studies lasted up to 56 weeks and compared Saxenda with placebo. Patients in the studies were given the medicine as part of a weight loss programme involving counselling and advice on diet and physical activity.
When analysing the results of the 5 studies together, Saxenda, given at the maximum recommended dose, led to a 7.5% reduction in body weight, compared with a 2.3% reduction in patients taking placebo. Patients treated with Saxenda had a continuous decrease in body weight during the first 40 weeks of treatment, after which the weight loss achieved was maintained. Weight loss was more pronounced in women than in men.
When the figures for the main studies were re-analysed using a more conservative method that assumed that patients who did not complete the study (around 30%) would not have seen any improvement, similar but smaller weight reductions with Saxenda were noted.
What Is The Price Of Saxenda?
- If you have a valid prescription for Saxenda, the cost is €289 for a pack of 5 x 3ml Saxenda pens.
- Needles not included, but can be purchased separately for €16
- This includes delivery in Ireland in cold chain-friendly packaging from Inish Pharmacy.
- Discrete packaging
- The cost to use the online doctor service is €20. This is separate to the cost to dispensing and supply of the medicine by Inish Pharmacy.
- If you have any questions, please contact prescriptions@inishpharmacy.com.
Who Can Use Saxenda?
Saxenda is indicated as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for weight management in adult patients with an initial Body Mass Index (BMI) of
• ≥ 30 kg/m² (obese), or
• ≥ 27 kg/m² to < 30 kg/m² (overweight) in the presence of at least one weight-related comorbidity such as dysglycaemia (pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes mellitus), hypertension, dyslipidaemia or obstructive sleep apnoea.
Treatment with Saxenda should be discontinued after 12 weeks on the 3.0 mg/day dose if patients have not lost at least 5% of their initial body weight.
Saxenda can also be used in adolescents (≥12 years) as an adjunct to a healthy nutrition and increased physical activity for weight management in adolescent patients from the age of 12 years and above with:
How Effective Is Saxenda?
Clinical trials (the SCALE program) involving over 5,800 adults have proven Saxenda's effectiveness for weight loss:
- Significant Weight Loss in Adults: On average, patients achieved a 7.5% reduction in body weight compared to 2.3% in the placebo group.
- Sustained Results: Weight loss was shown to be maintainable for up to 160 weeks (over 3 years) when used alongside a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity.
- High Responder Rates: 63.5% of patients lost at least 5% of their body weight, and 32.8% lost more than 10%of their weight.
- Effective for Adolescents & Children: Adolescents (12-17) lost an average of 2 kg while the placebo group gained weight. Children (6-11) experienced a 5.8% reduction in BMI.
