Saxenda vs. Mysimba

We know that keeping a healthy weight improves your overall health and reduces your risk of developing conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes or stroke. However, as anyone who has tried to lose weight can tell you, it’s just not that easy!

Busy lives, long commutes, processed foods and inactive lifestyles, make it even more difficult. It is important to remember that losing weight is a gradual process, but not impossible, especially with the right treatment and support. Any treatment plan should also be combined with a healthy balanced diet and increased activity levels.

The good news is, even after small amounts of weight loss, you will start to notice benefits, such as, increased energy levels, reduced snoring and day to day activities becoming less challenging – not to mention your clothes feeling a little looser.

We are here to guide you through your weight loss journey and get you the right medication to make this weight loss attempt a success.

In the post below, we provide a comparison of Saxenda vs. Mysimba, two exceptional weight loss drugs. Let’s take a look at their mode of action, active ingredients, price, and reviews.

Comparison Table

	Saxenda	Mysimba
Active ingredients	Liraglutide	Naltrexone hydrochloride and bupropion hydrochloride
Mode of action	Makes you feel full for longer.	Suppresses appetite and controls cravings
Availability	Injections (Registered UK based pharmacies on prescription)	Tablets (Registered UK based pharmacies on prescription)
Price	1, 3 ml pen for £74.99, 2 ml pens for £149.99 and 5, 3 ml pens for £300.00	112 tablets for £129, 224 tablets for £258
Recommended users	Obese (BMI of 30 or more) Overweight (BMI of 27 or more if at a risk of serious medical conditions)	Obese (BMI of 30 or more) Overweight (BMI of 27 or more if at a risk of serious medical conditions)
Average user rating	7.7 out of 10 (drugs.com)	6.7 out of 10 (drugs.com)
	Find Out More	Find Out More

Saxenda

From £105

Mysimba

From £109

Orlistat / Xenical

From £44.99

See all Weight loss treatments

Saxenda – Overview

Saxenda is a once-daily injection that you administer to yourself to aid weight loss. It contains the active ingredient Liraglutide, which is very similar to a naturally occurring hormone in your body called GLP-1. It works by making you feel less hungry, slowing down the emptying of your stomach and making you feel 'fuller' for longer.

Saxenda should be taken alongside a calorie-controlled diet and exercise to help you lose weight. Exercise and balanced diet will help you maintain a healthy weight even when you stop taking your medication.

It is only recommended for people with a BMI of 30 or greater (obese) and overweight individuals (with a BMI of 27 or more) if they are at a higher risk of developing serious medical conditions.

Active Ingredients

Saxenda contains Liraglutide that mimics the mode of action of a naturally occurring hormone called GLP-1.

This hormone is released by the intestines after a meal that allows the brain to know when the stomach is full. Saxenda replicates this action of GLP-1, and as a result, a person taking Saxenda feels more satisfied and full even after eating less food.

Availability

Saxenda is available in the form of a preloaded, injectable pen that can be easily used.

Just like Mysimba, Saxenda is also available on prescription. You can seek online consultation and a prescription that will allow you to get the drug delivered at your doorstep.

How to Use it?

As with any other medication, your doctor will prescribe the dosage of the drug, which starts from 0.6 mg per day and gradually increases up to 3 mg per day over a period of 5 weeks.

From week five onwards, you can continue to take 3 mg per day. Saxenda is easily injectable in the front of your abdomen or in your upper arm or thighs. The injectable pen needs to be stored in the refrigerator at a temperature below 30^OC.

Just like Mysimba, the usage of Saxenda needs to be evaluated by the doctor after the first 12 weeks of the usage.

You can expect to lose a minimum of 5% of your initial body weight after completing 12 weeks of treatment at 3.0mg liraglutide daily. If you have not lost 5% of your initial body weight after 12 weeks at 3.0mg, then treatment should be discontinued at this stage.

Price

A single 3 ml Saxenda pen is available for £69.

However, the price per pen tends to decrease as you go for packs containing more pens. A pack of 2, 3 ml Saxenda pens is available for £139, and a pack of 5, 3 ml pens cost £294.

Reviews

Saxenda is considered to be one of the most effective weight loss medications. Since its launch, the drug has continued to receive many positive reviews and its effectiveness has been proven through several studies.

In one of the studies comprising of 3,731 participants, 60% of the participants taking Saxenda managed to lose 5% or more of their initial starting weight. Another 3 year study concluded that 56% of the participants using Saxenda injections achieved significant (5% or more) weight loss after the first year.

The drug has an average rating of 7.7 out of 10 on drugs.com.

Mysimba 8mg/90mg – Overview

Mysimba is a prescription-only weight-loss medication containing naltrexone and bupropion. You take 1-2 tablets once or twice a day up to a maximum of 4 tablets per day. Bupropion helps to reduce your appetite so that you do not feel as hungry and are satisfied with less food. Naltrexone is thought to curb your food cravings which reduces your desire to eat.

It is one of the best weight loss supplements for obese individuals (BMI of 30 or more).

Mysimba should be taken alongside a calorie-controlled diet and exercise to help you lose weight. Exercise and a balanced diet will help you to maintain a healthy weight even when you stop taking your medication.

People with a BMI below 30 may be prescribed this drug only if they are at a greater risk of developing severe medical conditions such as high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol levels, cardiovascular diseases, and various types of cancers.

Active Ingredients

Mysimba has two active ingredients that, although not fully understood, are thought to be complementary in the way they work. Bupropion helps to reduce your appetite so that you do not feel as hungry and are satisfied with less food. Naltrexone is thought to curb your food cravings which reduces your desire to eat. The combination of these two actions works together to help you lose weight.

Although Mysimba is shown to be effective as a weight-loss treatment and was approved for use in Europe in 2015, it does not have a license for this use by the NHS in the UK so is only available on a private prescription.

Availability

The drug is only available in the form of tablets through a registered UK pharmacy.

You can complete a free online consultation specific to weight loss which will take just few minutes. During the consultation, you can choose your preferred medication or, if you have no preference, let our doctors choose for you.

How to Use it?

Week	Morning	Evening
One	1 x tablet	None
Two	1 x tablet	1 x tablet
Three	2 x tablets	1 x tablet
Four (+)	2 x tablets	2 x tablets

The dosage of Mysimba increases gradually as your body adjusts to the drug. You will start by taking one tablet every day and increase the dose gradually.

However, you should never use more than four tablets of Mysimba every day. Here is the recommended dose of the Mysimba.

Week 1 – One tablet, once in the morning.

Week 2 – One tablet, twice a day

Week 3 – Two tablets in the morning and one in the evening

Week 4 and onwards – Two tablets, twice daily

Since it is an FDA-approved weight loss drug and is only prescribed when all other weight loss measures have failed to produce results, the weight loss is closely monitored by your doctor.

If you have not lost 5% of your weight within the first 16 weeks of the treatment, it is best to consult your doctor and reconsider its use. 

Price

A pack of 112 Mysimba tablets is available for £129, which can last for up to 6 weeks. You can also find a pack of 224 tablets for £258 that can last for a little over nine weeks.

Reviews

Contrave (the American brand name for Mysimba) has conducted studies to find its effect on weight loss.

The results indicated that over a period of 56 weeks, participants who used Mysimba (along with a healthy diet and moderate exercise) managed to lose around 5% of the body weight.

This was in comparison to 1% weight loss for people who relied on a healthy diet and moderate exercise alone.

The drug has an average rating of 6.7 out of 10 on drugs.com.