Generic liraglutide acquisition benchmark falls about a third in six months

The federal benchmark price for generic liraglutide fell by roughly a third over six months. National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) data effective August 19, 2026 listed the generic two-pen carton at $33.8176 per mL, down from $48.7442 per mL in the file effective February 18, 2026 — a decline of about 31% ^[1].

The five-pen weight-management carton fell to $47.6947 per mL from $73.7391 per mL in January 2026, a drop of about 35% ^[1]. Both figures are stated per milliliter, which is the pricing unit for these products, so they are not the price of a whole carton or a single pen ^[1].

NADAC is the government's estimate of what retail pharmacies pay to buy a drug. It is calculated from surveys of chain and independent pharmacies, labeled "C/I" in the dataset, and Medicaid programs use it as a reimbursement benchmark ^[1]. The numbers reflect pharmacy acquisition costs, not manufacturer list prices, and the files are published on a weekly schedule rather than set once a year ^[1].

Brand liraglutide did not move with the generic. Victoza and Saxenda stayed near $87 per mL in the same files ^[1]. On a per-mL basis, that is roughly two and a half times the generic two-pen carton benchmark and about 1.8 times the five-pen carton benchmark ^[1].

These figures cover liraglutide only. They say nothing about the NADAC benchmarks for semaglutide products (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus), tirzepatide products (Mounjaro, Zepbound) or orforglipron (Foundayo), which appear as separate entries in the same dataset ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

NADAC is not a retail price. The dataset describes it as the average acquisition cost per unit, and it does not report copays, cash prices, deductibles or what any individual pays at a pharmacy counter ^[1]. Those figures have not been reported here.

What the change does show is the direction of the underlying cost of the generic drug. When a pharmacy's cost to buy a product falls by about a third in six months while the brand versions hold near $87 per mL, the gap between the two widens considerably ^[1]. For patients whose coverage is tied to a benchmark like NADAC, or whose pharmacy chooses which version to stock, that gap is the part of the market that is moving.

It is also worth being precise about which product this is. Liraglutide is a daily injectable GLP-1. The brand names Victoza and Saxenda are the liraglutide products named in this data; Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus are semaglutide, and Mounjaro and Zepbound are tirzepatide ^[1]. A price change for one molecule does not automatically carry over to another.

What happens next

NADAC files are published weekly, and the 2026 dataset had been updated as of September 8, 2026 ^[1]. Later files will show whether the generic liraglutide benchmark keeps falling, holds at this level or rises again ^[1].

The dataset does not include manufacturer list prices, rebates, pharmacy markups or patient out-of-pocket costs, so movement in those areas would not appear in these numbers, and no such changes have been disclosed in the data ^[1]. Whether the spread between brand and generic liraglutide narrows or widens will be visible in the weekly per-mL figures as they are posted ^[1].