Pharmacy acquisition cost for generic liraglutide falls about a third in six months

Pharmacies' average cost for generic liraglutide fell sharply over the first half of 2026, according to the federal National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) file. In the file effective August 19, 2026, the generic two-pen carton was priced at $33.8176 per milliliter, down from $48.7442 in the file effective February 18, 2026 ^[1]. The generic five-pen carton used for weight management was priced at $47.6947 per mL, down from $73.7391 in January ^[1].

Those changes work out to a drop of about 31% for the two-pen presentation and about 35% for the five-pen presentation in roughly six months ^[1]. Over the same period, the brand-name versions — Victoza and Saxenda, both liraglutide — stayed near $87 per mL ^[1]. That leaves the generic two-pen carton priced about 61% below the brand on a per-milliliter basis, and the five-pen carton about 45% below ^[1].

What NADAC measures

NADAC is a weekly reference file published by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services through data.medicaid.gov ^[1]. It reports the national average cost pharmacies pay to acquire a drug, based on surveys of chain and independent retail pharmacies, and it is priced per unit — "ML," "GM" or "EA" depending on the product ^[1]. Liraglutide is a liquid injection, so it is priced per milliliter ^[1].

The file is large and updated frequently: the 2026 dataset listed 1,088,173 rows and was last modified September 8, 2026 ^[1]. Each line carries an explanation code showing how the number was set — for example, code 1 means the figure came from the most recent completed pharmacy survey, while code 4 means the prior week's value was simply carried forward ^[1]. That matters when reading week-to-week moves, because a flat price sometimes reflects a carry-forward rather than fresh survey data ^[1].

One important limit: NADAC is an acquisition cost, not a price list for patients. It does not include pharmacy dispensing fees, wholesaler or pharmacy margin, manufacturer rebates, or what an insurer or a cash-pay customer is ultimately charged ^[1]. The provided data also do not state how many milliliters are in each carton, so the total cost per box cannot be calculated from these figures alone.

Why it matters for patients

Acquisition cost is the floor a pharmacy works up from. When that floor falls by a third, it creates room — though no guarantee — for lower cash prices, lower coupon-based prices, and lower plan costs on generic liraglutide. Whether any of that reaches the counter depends on pharmacy pricing decisions, insurance design and rebates, none of which appear in the NADAC file ^[1].

The brand-versus-generic gap is the more concrete signal here. At roughly $87 per mL for Victoza and Saxenda versus $33.82 and $47.69 per mL for the generic presentations, the same molecule now carries very different costs to the pharmacy depending on which label is dispensed ^[1]. For people paying cash or facing coinsurance tied to a drug's price, that difference can be large.

It is also worth noting what these numbers do not cover. Liraglutide is a daily injectable GLP-1 and is a different molecule from semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound). Nothing in the source data says anything about the acquisition cost or availability of those products, and a price decline for one GLP-1 does not imply one for another. The data also say nothing about how the two medicines compare clinically.

What happens next

NADAC is refreshed weekly, so the August 19, 2026 figures are a snapshot, not a settled price ^[1]. Whether generic liraglutide keeps falling, levels off, or ticks back up will show in later files; CMS publishes the running 2026 dataset and a downloadable CSV on data.medicaid.gov, with the version cited here modified September 8, 2026 ^[1].

Also unknown from these sources: how many manufacturers are now supplying generic liraglutide, whether supply is steady, and whether retail cash prices have moved in line with acquisition costs. Those would need separate reporting.