Clinical Impact of Liraglutide as a Treatment of Obesity

Obesity is defined as a chronic, complex, relapsing disease characterized by excessive adipose tissue. Obesity impacts an individual’s health by increasing complications such as prediabetes, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, dyslipidemia, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), cancers (eg endometrial), and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). With the increase of obesity prevalence and its negative influences on individuals’ quality of life, there is a great need for therapy with a purpose to produce sustainable weight loss of more than 10% in order to improve or even reverse the progress of obesity related complications. The GLP-1 analogue, liraglutide reduce food consumption, promote weight reduction and improve metabolic functions. The primary mechanism of GLP-1 effect on food intake, metabolism, and weight reduction is mainly due to its actions on peripheral (vagal) and central pathways and activation of hindbrain and hypothalamus. The average weight reduction induced by liraglutide was significant and the weight loss was maintained as long as the patients on therapy. Liraglutide has advantages on weight loss maintenance and promoting cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk reduction, by decreasing systolic blood pressure and glycemic index. In this review, we aim to explain the mechanism of action of Liraglutide, its pharmacokinetic properties, its clinical impact on obesity and its safety and tolerability.