The Saxenda daily dose schedule
Saxenda is taken once a day, and the pen dials the labelled dose, so there is nothing to measure. The label's titration starts low and steps up about once a week until the maintenance dose is reached — a faster cadence than the weekly GLP-1 products because dosing is daily.
Because the pen meters the dose, you never reconstitute or draw a Saxenda pen. The math only appears with a compounded liraglutide vial.
- Once-daily dosing (not weekly)
- Typical steps: 0.6 → 1.2 → 1.8 → 2.4 → 3.0 mg per day
- Pen dials the dose — no reconstitution or unit math
Saxenda pens vs compounded liraglutide vials
A compounded liraglutide vial is reconstituted and drawn by hand, unlike a Saxenda pen. With daily dosing, a vial is used across many days, so the reconstitution date and beyond-use date matter — and you convert each daily dose into a draw volume and syringe units yourself.
On Saxenda pens you do not need the calculator. On a compounded vial dosed to a comparable daily schedule, the liraglutide calculator below turns each step into the units to draw.
- Pen = dialled daily dose, no math
- Compounded vial = you calculate the daily draw and units
- Track the beyond-use date — one vial spans many days
Compounded liraglutide reference
U100 units to draw for each common Liraglutide dose, by vial size, reconstituted with 2 mL of bacteriostatic water. Change the water volume in the calculator above to recompute for your own setup.
| Vial | Concentration | 600 mcg | 1.2 mg | 1.8 mg | 2.4 mg | 3 mg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 mg | 5 mg/mL | 12 u(0.12 mL) | 24 u(0.24 mL) | 36 u(0.36 mL) | 48 u(0.48 mL) | 60 u(0.6 mL) |
| 18 mg | 9 mg/mL | 6.7 u(0.07 mL) | 13.3 u(0.13 mL) | 20 u(0.2 mL) | 26.7 u(0.27 mL) | 33.3 u(0.33 mL) |
Educational reference only — not a dose recommendation. Units assume a U100 insulin syringe (100 units = 1 mL on U-100). Always confirm against your own vial, diluent, and clinician or pharmacy instructions.