Generic liraglutide undercuts every branded GLP-1 on acquisition cost

Generic liraglutide has become the cheapest GLP-1 medicine on the US market by a wide margin. Federal pharmacy-acquisition data effective August 19, 2026 put a generic liraglutide 3-pack at about $32.00 per milliliter, compared with $87.81 per mL for brand-name Victoza — about 64% lower ^[1]. The gap against newer weekly drugs is far larger: roughly $487 per mL for Trulicity (dulaglutide) and about $332 per mL for the Ozempic (semaglutide) pen ^[1].

The numbers come from NADAC, the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost survey run by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which tracks what retail chain and independent pharmacies actually pay to buy drugs ^[1]. The 2026 file was last updated September 8, 2026 and contains more than 1 million rows of weekly pricing ^[1]. NADAC is not a patient price. It excludes rebates, insurance design, pharmacy markups and dispensing fees, so it shows the wholesale floor, not what shows up at the counter.

A crowded generic shelf

Competition is what pushed the price down. The FDA's National Drug Code directory returned 62 listed liraglutide products as of September 11, 2026, spanning nine manufacturers ^[2]. The reference product, Novo Nordisk's Victoza, is a 6 mg/mL subcutaneous injection first marketed on January 25, 2010 under NDA 022341, sold in cartons of one, two or three 3 mL prefilled syringes ^[2].

Because a 3-pack carton holds 9 mL, the per-mL figures translate to roughly $288 for a generic carton versus about $790 for the brand at NADAC prices — a difference of about $500 per carton, based on the listed per-mL costs and package size ^[1][2]. Those are arithmetic estimates from the published data, not quoted package prices.

Cheap but still short

The price story comes with a complication: liraglutide injection remains on the FDA drug shortage list. The agency's shortage database, last updated September 14, 2026, held 11 liraglutide records ^[3]. One of them shows Teva Pharmaceuticals USA listing its liraglutide injection 6 mg/mL (NDC 0480-7250-46) as "To Be Discontinued," with a discontinuation date of May 14, 2026 and the reason given as "Discontinuation of the manufacture of the drug" ^[3].

That combination — many approved products, low prices, and unresolved supply entries — is unusual. The sources do not explain why the shortage listing persists, which specific strengths or presentations are affected at any given pharmacy, or whether other manufacturers have stepped in to cover Teva's volume. Those details are not yet known from the available data.

Why it matters for patients

Acquisition cost shapes what insurers, employers and state Medicaid programs are willing to pay for, and it often shows up later in formulary tiers and cash-pay prices. A GLP-1 that pharmacies can buy for about $32 per mL sits in a different economic category than one that costs $332 or $487 per mL ^[1].

There are limits to reading across from these figures. NADAC does not tell you a copay. The drugs are not interchangeable with one another: liraglutide, dulaglutide and semaglutide are separate molecules with separate approved uses, dosing schedules and evidence bases, and nothing in this pricing data speaks to how they compare clinically. A shortage listing also means availability can vary by pharmacy and by strength even when the published price is low ^[3].

What happens next

NADAC files are updated weekly, so the generic liraglutide figure can move; the current reference price carries an effective date of August 19, 2026 and the 2026 dataset was refreshed September 8, 2026 ^[1]. The FDA shortage record for liraglutide injection was last updated September 14, 2026 and will change as manufacturers report supply or discontinuation status ^[3]. Victoza's current FDA listing carries an expiration date of December 31, 2026 ^[2].