Mazdutide vs Liraglutide
It is a weekly weight-loss shot approved in China. Two trials in over 1,000 adults there showed about 15% weight loss, but no US trial has finished. It is a daily injection for type 2 diabetes and for weight loss. Large trials of 9,340 and 3,731 people showed fewer heart problems and about 8% weight loss.
Both sit at grade A: strong human evidence. Mazdutide: In clinical trials. Liraglutide: FDA approved.
Evidence
AStrong human evidence
AStrong human evidence
Human studies cited
Animal or cell studies cited
Why the grade
Mazdutide has completed multiple phase 3 randomized placebo-controlled trials in China: GLORY-1 in 610 adults with overweight or obesity and GLORY-2 in 461 adults with obesity, plus the DREAMS trials in type 2 diabetes, and it won two approvals on that basis. That meets the A definition. The limits are that nearly all trial participants were Chinese, no cardiovascular outcomes trial has reported, and US data are limited to one phase 2 trial of 179 people. A 2026 meta-analysis of 19 randomized trials of the dual agonist class puts pooled weight loss at about 7 percent over controls, with mazdutide among the two strongest drugs.
Both uses rest on large randomized placebo-controlled trials: LEADER (9,340 patients with type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular outcomes) and the SCALE obesity trial (3,731 adults, 56 weeks of weight loss). Multiple other phase 3 trials sit behind the labels. What the citations do not cover is how liraglutide compares with the newer weekly GLP-1 drugs, which outperform it on weight.
FDA
In clinical trials
Not approved by the FDA for any use. Mazdutide is approved in China, where the NMPA cleared it in June 2025 for chronic weight management in adults with overweight or obesity and in September 2025 for glycemic control in type 2 diabetes. In the US it is investigational, with Eli Lilly holding the rights, one US phase 2 trial published and no phase 3 result or FDA filing reported.
FDA approved
Approved. Liraglutide is sold as Victoza (approved 2010) for type 2 diabetes in adults and children aged 10 and older and to reduce major cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and as Saxenda (approved 2014) for chronic weight management in adults and adolescents aged 12 and older. Generic liraglutide for both indications has been approved since December 2024 and August 2025.
Sold for
Mazdutide is pitched as the next step after tirzepatide: a weekly dual agonist that adds glucagon receptor activity to GLP-1 for more weight loss and liver fat reduction, and it is already being sold by gray-market peptide vendors in the US.
Liraglutide was the first daily GLP-1 drug to be approved for weight loss and is now marketed as the cheaper generic alternative to semaglutide for people who want a GLP-1 but cannot get or afford the newer ones.
Studies say
Two phase 3 trials in more than a thousand Chinese adults produced about 15 percent weight loss versus placebo over 48 to 60 weeks and led to approval in China, which grades A, although no US trial has finished and no outcomes trial exists.
Trials in nearly 10,000 diabetic patients and 3,700 adults with obesity showed fewer heart events and about 8 percent body weight loss respectively, which earns an A for both approved uses.
Class
GLP-1 / glucagon dual agonist
GLP-1 receptor agonist
Route
Injection
Injection