What Is The Best Generic Version Of Wellbutrin Xl - Watson Or Anchen? (Page 3) (Top voted first)

My doctor will not prescribe generic Wellbutrin XL but my insurance will no longer pay for brand name drugs. I will have to pay about $7000 per yer for what I am taking now (3 of the 150mg Wellbutrin XL brand name per day). I am reading that the problem with the generics is the time release mechanism and not the drug itself and that some are better than others. Anybody have experience with the generics made by Watson and /or Anchen?

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I'm not sure who made a derogatory statement but this whole business is a mess and I'm glad that we can receive feedback from each other rather than blindly trusting Big Pharmaceutical companies.

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I've been on the Direct Success Pharmacy Wellbutrin for over a week now and have noticed no difference in effect from the pharmacy Wellbutrin I was previously taking. In the case of the generic versions I took which didn't work the negative effects were noticed within 2 days or less. There is no question whatsoever in my mind that the Direct Success Pharmacy Wellbutrin is the real thing.

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Before we go all paranoid on this, remember what generics are SUPPOSED to be...

In the first years after a drug is developed, the patent holder has exclusive rights to sell it an charge whatever the market will bear with no competition. A new drug costs between $1 billion and $2 billion, and all of the research, development and FDA approval costs have to be paid for during the patent period. A billion dollars is a HUGE amount of money -- if there are 100,000 people who need the drug, then each one -- or more precisely their insurance companies -- needs to come up with $10,000-$20,000 for the drug company to break even.

Then the patent runs out, and anybody can make the drug. So the FDA has set up the generic system so that new manufacturers of these drugs can go into business making the drug, and make it so that it is the same. But the "THE SAME" part of this is vitally important -- if they are NOT the same then this NEW drug needs to be extensively analyzed for safety and efficacy. And that's something that costs on the order of a billion dollars -- NOT going to be paid for by the dime-a-day prescription program!

The financials of this system work as a pipeline. At the beginning, you have a disease or condition that has no treatment, at any price. Then a treatment is discovered, developed and given a trial. Then it is released, and it is very expensive for a few years. Then the patent runs out, and it becomes very cheap. The way that it can be paid for is that a big group of people pays IN to the insurance premium pool. MOST of those people don't need any drugs, or only need cheap (patent expired) drugs. So there is money to pay a LOT for the FEW people who need the in-patent drugs. Drugs move through the pipeline, but patients move through the pipeline, too. You may be lucky to develop a disease after some great treatments are out of patent and virtually free, and then your insurance premiums go to pay for people in other parts of the pipeline. Or you may be on them for a few years when they are expensive and then later when they are cheap. Understand, though, that without a way to PAY FOR new drugs there won't BE any new drugs. Well, with the exception of things that effect hundreds of millions of people, so that a billion dollars can be spread around and be a little bit of money from each person. In other words, without SOME way to pay for these huge development costs, there would be no drugs for anything other than baldness cures and impotence cures!

With most drugs, the generic REALLY IS the same. With most drugs, it's really important to force people to take the generic, or if they want to take the expired-patent brand, they need to pay for it with their own money and not use any of the insurance premium pool which is needed to pay for new drugs. Now we come to the problem of Wellbutrin. The problem with Wellbutrin is that the time-release mechanism is an important part of how the drug works, and the time-release mechanism of the patented drug and each of the generics is a trade secret to the individual manufacturer rather than part of the patent that was copied. So each generic version of the drug is a new and different medication which is being taken by millions of people with no trials for safety and efficacy. And they aren't even using us millions of people as guinea pigs -- they are not COLLECTING ANY DATA in any scientific way. It's completely possible that one or more of the generics is MORE EFFECTIVE than the original and/or SAFER than the original. It's NOT a matter of the FDA allowing inferior drugs on the market, it's that the FDA is allowing drugs on the market and they have NO IDEA about how well they work or how safe they are.

Given our collective experience with the various Wellbutrin generics, it is completely reasonable to expect that there are particular people for whom the "real" Wellbutrin doesn't work while one or another of the generics works great for them. Looking at this new program, it looks like a new owner of the expired patent process is deciding to try to market the drug at a price point which is a premium to the generic but still affordable to mere mortals. (And they would make their profits on volume.) What SHOULD happen, if our theories about different people being affected differently, is that if we have a large number of people moving from generics to the real Wellbutrin when those people have never taken real stuff before, is that we should see some folks popping up who did better on one of the generics that has been forced off the market because it is different than they do on the real Wellbutrin. Precisely because it IS different!

Which will be an interesting dilemma... The FDA has accidentally let out a bunch of untried drugs, and some folks have accidentally discovered that they really need them. And there is no source of money that can give trial to any of these drugs for safety and efficacy...

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I too was having a lot of success on Bupropion XL 300 mg a day. But over the course of the last 6 weeks I've noticed it slowly was losing potency to the point where it is now clearly not working. I asked my pharmacist if there were any changes made and alas they switched my generic brand from Par Pharmaceuticals to Actavis. I did a bit of research and found Actavis used to be Watson Pharmaceuticals which was mandated by the FDA to take their generic version of Bupropion XL 300mg off the market due to lack of efficacy. Hmmmmm... I have spent hours on the phone and internet trying to track down my original version and finally found it at Costco's Pharmacy. Moral of the story - be aware of changes made with your generic meds by your pharmacist because they are not all the same regardless of what the FDA claims. Don't let your doc or your pharmacist say it's all in your head. You know your body so fight for the medication that works best for you!

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I took the last 8 generic wellbutrin 150 XL pills made by Par Pharm [they are white, small and read A101] from a bottle my husband stopped taking, and I felt amazing....I suppose that's what people call "the honeymoon." Well, since I'd read that "the Brand" was so much better, I had my doctor prescribe me that instead, and it was awful!! Only 2 hours after taking Wellbutrin Brand 150 XL [from Canada], my hands became inflamed with joint pain and I could barely make a fist. Hours later, I felt so anxious I started crying over my son's school field trip, and then several hours after that, I was so agitated, I became angry over everyday things. Clearly, Brand was too strong for me, so I never took another pill, returned the bottle to the pharmacy for a refund and got a prescription for generic Wellbutrin 75 mg instant release. I can't remember the maker but it was a round, much larger peach pill. Three days on this, and all I was was sleepy. SO, THEN, I went back to my doctor, asked for generic 150 XL by Par Pharm. Started taking it again, and felt better, though not amazing like that first week. Well, my husband started taking mine [so it ran out fast] as he waited for his to arrive in the mail. Our insurance upped the price of my husband's generic Par 150 XL from $7 to $27 and told him that if he signs up for an order by mail instead, he can get 3 months worth for cheaper. This actually made him stop his medication for a time, and it took forever to finally come in the mail. Anyway, it arrived and it's DIFFERENT!! This new order by mail generic version is made by MYLAN and the pill reads "MB6." Two days on this, and I just feel pissed all day...angry...not happy. So, I'm going to get my prescription refilled Par Pharm 150 XL generic...which has so far worked the best for me. I would say I am not someone who needs a high dose, nor do I suffer from severe depression, but after several truly painful years of loss and regret, the Par Pharm generic version just helped me to move forward and enjoy life a little bit more. When you experience that feeling, it's hard to revert back into a slump. That a company would just take away what has worked for you, and switch you to something that could change your life for the worse, it's almost unconscionable. Also, everyone has such different experiences based on their need and body chemistry, I'd just say when you find something that works, stick with it. If it doesn't work or causes pain, get off it, and continue looking. I've also heard wonders about 5htp and St. John's Wort used together.

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I am checking back in after 2 months on the brand name through the Direct Success program. I am using the 150XL size.

First of all, my experience has lead me to believe that the core premise of the question that started this thread is false. The problem is not that one manufacturer is good and another bad, it is that the SAME manufacturer is producing different lots which work well and other lots that are "meh".

For me, my adventures in generic non-equivalency went this way: for the first year, I took Teva, and then was filled with a 90-day prescription that had Teva and Activis mixed together. I took all the Teva first (on top in the pill container), then took the Activis. I then had a really rough couple of months, but I did not start connecting dots until I had gotten a new 90-day refill, all Activis, and while swapping pills around remembered the change and realized that I had started feeling mega-crappy about the time I started taking the Activis. But the other thing was that I was already a couple of days into this new Activis batch, and feeling great! Which continued for the whole 90 days. I did some research and decided to try Watson, and made arrangements with my pharmacist (very small store in a small town.) That went great for a year and a half, until Watson stopped making the 150XL and in December I ended up with 30 days of Par. And it was like the bad batch of Activis. I went back to my wonderful pharmacist, and he did research, and discovered that Teva and Watson were both completely gone and unavailable. I was willing to give Par a chance -- or unwilling to pay $450/month on the brand name! -- so I filled 90 days, and then 30 days. They were "meh" too, but I was still trying to figure out if I had any options because yikes I can lease a luxury car for $450/mo! About this time I remembered this thread and read it and came upon the info about Direct Success. I printed it out and took it to my PA, and got wellbutrin 150XL from Direct Success.

The interesting thing here is that I was already 15 days into yet ANOTHER batch of Par -- and it worked like the Watson! Again -- it's not the manufacturer, it's the batch!

So I started the real Wellbutrin, and it's been rock solid for two months. This was two different shipments, so different lots. I did have some nausea the first couple of days, which may be a coincidence.

Secondly, my research (a lot of it from pointers I got on this thread) has convinced me that as far as our concerns about manufacturers and quality control, the 150XL and the 300XL are completely different. At the time that wellbutrin first went generic, each manufacturer compared its 150XL against the wellbutrin 150XL, and they passed the qualifications. The FDA then ASSUMED that this was good enough to approve the 300XL. Then when it came into wide use people started complaining. It took awhile for people to decide that the differences are real, and so the FDA organized an analysis of the 300XL where they discovered that the Teva and Watson 300XL are not the same as wellbutrin. But the original diagnostics -- and my personal experience and the experiences of lots of people here -- concluded that the 150XL WAS the same (or close, anyway) in a way that the 300XL was shown later was not the same or close enough. If you read the 30-some pages of this thread, a lot of the "contradictions" are not really contradictions at all if you keep track that sometimes people are talking about 150XL, sometimes 300XL, sometimes the SR, etc. With that note, I will emphasize again that this is my experience with brand Wellbutrin and 4 different generic manufacturers with multiple lots at the 150XL size.

Anyway, the Direct Success has been great, just like everybody here says! There is something a little funny about the price -- they charge you a $50 co-pay unless you have an insurance which will pay them at least $100, and then they don't charge you at all. I'm not sure how that can work -- starting this year, my insurance went to a straight 30% copay, so I don't know how Direct Success is getting away with not charging me for it. I will not be surprised if at some point my insurance connects the dots and comes to me for money. So I may yet have to come up with a $50 copay, but hey, that would be doable too!

The generics cost about $80-$90 for a 90-day supply, so my copay for them is a shade under $30. Which means that under the current arrangement the generic actually costs more. I'm just speculating, but it looks to me like Valeant bought the drug, looked at the price, and realized that if the price is so high that almost no one will buy it, then that's no way to make money. I'm a little worried that over the next few months/years they will decide that they dropped the price too much, but we'll see. If we go back to lease-on-a-luxury-car territory price wise, then I'm afraid I will be back to playing Generic Drug Lot Roulette...

...but at least I'll have a lot more information, and a lot of that is thanks to you folks!

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Sorry dude but you are DEAD wrong. There is a HUGE difference in the release mechanisms. Careful your ignorance is showing. I think you and everyone else would be shocked to see the visual differences on how they release. Also having been on Watson, and Actavis and the name brand I can tell you there are large differences. It is for that reason I examined their release mechanisms.

I'll give you a pass on your claims if you can get the studies published by the manufacturers on the actual data. Originally the FDA allowed the 300 XL data to be extrapolated by the 150 SR data and that's what led to Teva, Watson and others being pulled from the market.

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Ipey, DON'T do the Canadian route -- some people here have had a problem where they are getting the GSK generic from Turkey swapped in for them, and that works worse than the other generics!

Go to wellbutrinxl.com and sign up for their program. (You will need to get your doctor or pharmacist involved to transfer the prescription to them.) It is real Wellbutrin, made according to the exact recipe which is the original drug. It is manufactured by a company called Valeant, which bought the recipe from GSK. Since GSK sold the recipe, the stuff that they are making in their plant in Turkey is a NEW recipe, and it appears to be crap. The price is $50/month if you don't have insurance, but if you have insurance and it pays them at least $100, then it is no cost to you.

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Nino, I know you're just trying to do your job, but don't be so mean about it.

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V -- it's totally possible that you got a prescription that was a mix of two different batches -- maybe more than two batches, even! The thing that gave me the clue that the different brands were not the same was when I got Teva and Activis mixed together in the same 90-day refill because they were different shapes/sizes. And then when the next 90-day refill was Activis and worked as well as the Teva, then I knew that Activis had a consistency problem. If you get more than one batch from the same manufacturer mixed together, there would be no way to tell because the pills would look exactly the same.

You should sit down and talk to your pharmacist about this stuff. Pharmacists are highly educated medical professionals, and working in a retail pharmacy where they spend a lot of time just counting out pills means that most pharmacists are excited whenever a patient has an interesting intelligent problem that they can tackle and use all of that brainpower. It wouldn't be so hard to keep track of lot numbers -- they are printed on the side of the big bottles of drugs that the pharmacies get. Yeah, $50/month rather than $450/month is really really great -- but $25/month is even better! It's totally crappy that these generic manufacturers can get multiple batches right but then screw up enough times that you can't trust their stuff.

That's what's so frustrating about this whole thing. You are wondering if the differences are real or imagined or caused by differences in your life from day to day. It sure doesn't help that this is a disease where your symptoms really ARE "all in your head"! If you have a fever or high blood pressure or high blood sugar you would have a reading that would give you an objective measurement telling you whether the drug was working or not, but with depression there is no dial on the side of your head telling you a number.

I wish that the 150mg Watson and/or Teva were still on the market...

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Thank you thank you Nino for the info on the 50.00 a month I called and got taken care of in minutes to have the brand shipped to my home. I've been on brand and generic for 10 years Brand is better. I can't wait to feel normal again it's been a year on two different generics neither worked very well. In the last 3 months two different generics and a big roller coaster ride. The only reason I stayed with generic is because brand was 450.00 a month. Not to be afforded no matter how I saved. So again thanks so much Nino you've done a huge service for me!!!!

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I take a generic Zyban, Teva buproban SR 150 mg, for depression/anxiety. The only reason I take the Teva generic is because I used to take Teva budeprion 150 mg SR and did extremely well on it for about 3 years and then they discontinued it. I have had difficulty with the generic bupropion from Sandoz, Watson, Sun Pharma, and Mylan. I tried a different generic every one or two months or so from May 2014 until now. The only reason I found out that Teva manufactured the same drug and marketed it as a smoking cessation drug is because I got on the Teva website. I wanted to confirm that they did discontinue the budeprion and I happened to see the zyban in generic form that they manufacture. I also called and talked to someone at the US office in New Jersey. I now have to get a pre-authorization from my insurance company because I am on what is supposed to be a smoking cessation drug and after taking it for a few months, the insurance company presumes that you have been on it long enough to have stopped smoking. I know that I am one of the few who had success with the Teva budeprion but it really worked for me and I got really worried when I found out they discontinued it--not a good thing for someone who has anxiety to begin with! I am extremely sensitive to medication and my pdoc and I have been trying to come up with a solution. I tried the brand name one month. It cost me $115 but the pharmacist said I might to try it so I could compare it to others. I did and found that it did not work, although a higher dose might have. But I cannot afford to take the brand name every month, as it is now about $120 a month through my insurance company, which would not let me just pay a higher co-pay ($50) for the drug, since there are generics available. I wanted to try all of the possible generics before I moved on to another drug, which would mean more months of figuring out if it worked for me or not. Generic drugs, as most of us on this site are well aware of, are all different, because of the fillers they contain, I believe, and patients have to struggle to find one that works for them. Everyone's body chemistry is different. I have empathy for those who have not found a drug that works. These really affects a person's quality of life and I believe the drug and insurance companies don't really care. Unfortunately they are all about the bottom line.

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Eric and Insurance is Not- People come here to seek and exchange information amongst ourselves to hopefully find answers which can make us feel better and have a better quality of life. I am tired of getting email alerts that bring me back here hoping to find topic related discussion only to find to pompous professor wannabes trying to one up each other. Contribute something meaningful.

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For those interested in buying brand Wellbutrin, I have come across another source via Canada. Price is $106 for 90 tablets of 300mg XL, and the vendor is CanadaDrugStop. They are PharmacyChecker and CIPA-certified, so there should be no issues with authenticity or service. That works out a good deal cheaper than Direct Success ($150), and is getting down towards the cheapest uninsured price for generics ($91).

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I understand what you're saying and I apologize for being a little facetious in my last post. But I was also blindsided by a generic not duplicating the effects of brand Wellbutrin. But in my case, it was Anchen, not TEVA. Here's how it happened to me. I have bipolar disorder and after being diagnosed was eventually stabilized (more or less) on brand Wellbutrin and Lamictal. Then one day without me or my pdoc specifically requesting it my mail order pharmacy sent me TEVA Budeprion XL instead of brand Wellbutrin XL. I thought nothing of it because at the time I believed the FDA would never allow any generic on the market which did not duplicate the effects of brand Wellbutrin. And in the case of TEVA Budeprion XL, for me, as well as many others, it 100% duplicated the effects of brand Wellbutrin XL. Then one day the mail order pharmacy sent me Anchen instead of TEVA. I didn't think anything of that either until the very next day I went into ED and an upset stomach. It was just happenstance that the very same day I had started with an increase in dosage from 50 mg to 100 mg of Lamictal. I went about two weeks with this condition to see if there would be any eventual stabilization. There was not. Told my pdoc and she told me to go back to 50 mg of Lamictal. Did this for two weeks with no change in symptoms. Told my pdoc and she said it had to be the Anchen. She was right. Went back to TEVA and the symptoms went away. That's when I no longer trusted the FDA. I've tried Actavis after Anchen and had the identical effects as I did with the Anchen, except for the upset stomach. I've been on many sites since then and found out there was not a single generic, not TEVA, not Anchen, not PAR, not Watson, not any which was not a disaster for someone. Yet the FDA did not remove these from the market when they knew that people were experiencing these effects. They didn't have to remove any generic from the market. All they had to do was provide a warning to the public that any generic may or may not duplicate the effects of brand Wellbutrin or other generics. But they cover this up by not providing this warning to the public and falsely leave people to believe that any generic they approve will duplicate the effects of brand Wellbutrin. And the results are what you see on this very site and others. But I suppose if they were to admit it the political repercussions would be horrendous. I believe eventually the cover up will get out and all they'll do is find some scapegoat at some higher level and that individual will simply resign and retire. No different than what the Veteran's Administration did to America's veterans. But there's nothing you can do to a government agency except to lose all trust in it.

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After being on brand Wellbutrin, I was switched to a generic which caused vomiting, then back to the brand, then a different generic made by PAR. I am doing fine on the PAR generic.

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Google Canadadrugstop. I transferred to them after Direct Success cancelled me because I am on Medicare. Canadadrugstop bills you for 3 months and mails a 90 day supply of the Valiant Wellbutrin to you. Broken down to a monthly cost it is now running me $65 a month but that's better than $700-$1,000 a month.

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I have the same problem. generics DO NOT work for me in this medication. Such a sad state of affairs to be forced to take a worthless version while constantly being told generic is just the same as name brand. i jave been on Zydos 300 mg xl. it has given a small amount of relief nothing like the name brand. today i come from walgreens and find a NEW generic ACTAVIS. will post if theres any improvement in symptoms.

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If you have private insurance (like BCBS, United, Kaiser, etc.) stop freaking out and read the posts carefully. Two days ago a person posted about a NEW coupon from Valenat. I called and it is legit. 877-431-3578. Save yourself the aggravation.

They have a new card starting this past week. If you have normal commercial insurance like me (BSBCIL) and they will not cover any portion of the brand name. It will only cost you $100 per month! I know the coupon on the website only covers up to $200. This is new. The woman I spoke to said they will eventually be updating the website coupon but for now you can only get this by calling and through the mail. You can then use the coupon at any local pharmacy (walgreens, cvs, etc.)

Yes, this is worse than the $50/month we were getting with Direct Success, but this is our only option now unless you want to risk generics.

If you can afford $100 a month you will be fine.

Disclaimer: If you have medicare this will not work. It is only for private insurance, just like direct success was.

I agree with everyone that this is BS and it's wrong to keep us from affording our medication. At least Valeant made some effort to correct this disaster they created. Just call the number. I promise you it works, unlike the website coupon that is ridiculous.

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The card expires in 2018 and is good for 12 refills. There is no limit in terms of savings, just in terms of use - 12 refills. The expiration on the card is 12/31/2016 but Valeant extended the program through 2017 without reissuing new cards. The pharmacy never questioned the expiration date. They just ran the numbers on the card.

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