What Is The Best Generic Version Of Wellbutrin Xl - Watson Or Anchen? (Page 41)

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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Original guy, I just switched to Mylan from Par and I feel the same as you do after I take it, tired for a few hours then BAM energy, but content overall. Definitely working better than the Par brand. I would give the generic a little more time before you switch to brand... unless you already have a high co-pay for generic, in that case I'd just use the Guarantee Program and switch to brand.. but I'd definitely give the generic a chance first and see what happens. Good luck! Keep us posted

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Well got my prescription shipped from Canada today and ordered it 8 days ago so that was fast. Was in a valeant Wellbutrin bottle and sealed. Looks legit. The pill is round and white with 'wxl 300' on it. If I remember I will try to update on here to let everyone know how it went by taking these. I also have my script from the Valeant program on the way. I suppose I won't run out anytime soon.

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Could you please give me info where you ordered the Wellbutrin from Canada? My insurance has now denied any version of Wellbutrin and forcing me to generic. I've had allergic reaction to generic and scared to go to non-brand.

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Canada drugs is the name of the pharmacy. But I also got my dr to sign off on that valeant program.

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I must quit smoking. I have polycythemia Vera (smoking caused chances are says doc) MS, depression,polyneuropathy,chronic pain. Is generic wellbutrin good for helping me quit or zyban? I've heard of both for quitting. Any ideas about them?

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I take generic Wellbutrin 300 mg. Helped me cut down to about 2 cigarettes a day for 9 months. I'm immune to it now, so my smoking went back up. Give if a try, everyone is different.

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Generic Wellbutrin is bupropion, which is exactly what Zyban is. It's just a marketing distinction. The only practical difference is dosage.

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RedZenMom, my insurance will cover the name-brand Wellbutrin, but when I figured out how that worked I put a stop to that!

You need to track down what your insurance is REALLY paying, and what Direct Success is telling your insurance company. The way that the Direct Success works when you have insurance is that they charge the insurance company the full ridiculously inflated price, and tell the insurance company that they collected the co-pay from you, and they they just don't collect it. I figured this out when I first started last year, because the phony co-pay generated a check from our flexible spending account. I had to straighten that out, because otherwise it would be tax fraud!

I called up Direct Success and gave them my credit card number and they bill me for $50 each month and leave insurance out of it. Then in February, they billed my insurance by mistake, reversed it, and then billed me for the $50. I saw the paperwork for this -- a payment from my flex account, which was then reversed a week later, but I saw the amounts: $773.97 was the total prescription cost, with $232.19 my fake "co-pay" and that meant that the insurance company would have paid $541.78! For one month! (And the full price has almost doubled in the last 8 months -- the fake co-pay last May was $122.) Given that, I think that it's totally reasonable for the insurance companies to make people fight for it and really need it. Lots of people do just fine on the generic (which is about $10/month for this stuff) and this is our insurance premium money that's being wasted. And since I can get it for $50/month, I'm fine with doing it that way. With some insurance, I think that you can send them the receipt and a form after you pay for it, and they will then pay some part of the $50.

If you look at the rules, they are not allowed to bill Medicare via this kind of scamish arrangement....

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Thanks cf for that detailed explanation. This is why I am not keen on the Direct Success program. I recognize that it is a chance for people to get brand Wellbutrin affordably, but the scammy nature of their billing is a fraud upon our respective health insurers. And that means soaring premiums for us all.

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The fact that your insurance company covers brand Wellbutrin at all tells you there is something wrong with your insurance company to begin with. Many companies won't carry brand at all as a cost savings to those paying the insurance premiums. You may want to contact your insurance company and put in the suggestion for them to cease covering brand Wellbutrin.

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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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Ok. Yeah. People won't be affected by switching to a generic at all. Do you read any of the preceding posts? The generics can really mess with some people.

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I agree with you A. I see where everyone is coming from with this....but the generic version is definitely not the same. Every manufacturer has a different amount of bupropion in the pills, different fillers/binders....I've been through 3 different generics and I feel like I'm taking a different medication each time I get switched. Roller coaster.

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Noelle, thanks for the info on Zyban. I also did fine on the 150mg Teva, as well as the 150mg Watson. It's good to know that there is still a possibility of getting a works-for-me generic if I lose access to the brand.

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cf,
No problem! That's why I like this board--it's nice to share this information with one another. Information we probably wouldn't get otherwise.

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I took all of the generics and had terrible experiences with them. I was so confused. Didn't know if I was going crazy or if it was the generics. I went to my psychiatrist and told him I wanted to start taking name brand Wellbutrin 300 mg XL and gave him the information on Direct Success Pharmacy. I had called them in advance and did the registration and just told them that I didn't have insurance (didn't want them involved because they were refusing to approve name brand) and they just charge my debit card $50 a month. I am fine now with the name brand Wellbutrin and Pristiq combination. It is worth cutting a corner somewhere to come with the money for the name brand.

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I think after 816 posts on this subject the bottom line is unequivocally that brand is superior to generic. Maybe to a small percentage of us that are not sensitive to this particular drug does generic work but overall I think if you could just find a way to find the money to buy brand through direct success pharmacy, you will be much better off in the end. Imagine you start with brand you feel good and every day for as long as you take it it doesn't change, your mood will always be stable. With generic even if it works one month or two months the third month it could be completely different who needs to play with the chemistry in the brain like this. based on this subject alone and the 816 post to date the generics are unstable and at any given time they are not like they were the time before when you use them. Stick with the brand you'll never change the way you feel you'll always be stable. Isn't that worth everything in the end, doesn't it make sense? How many more times can we say should I try brand, should I try brand.... try brand!!!

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Nino, I sometimes wonder if you are shilling for Direct Success, given how often you pop in here to advocate for them. One thing that became apparent to me -- quite apart from the original question -- was that Direct Success are doing something very shady when they bill our insurance companies. There is more pressure than ever on premiums, particularly with expensive drugs out there like Solvadi. If people are going to use Direct Success Pharmacy, then they should at least pay for their Wellbutrin directly and not use their insurance. The customer pays the same price that way, but at least our insurance companies don't get bilked.

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Eric, I am not shilling for anyone. I resent you even saying that. I pop on once in a while and say what I say because it makes sense and if you read my last message I said find the extra money, meaning come up with the $50 a month, not even considering the insurance as an option. With what I have read about the insurance I might have reservations but frankly I don't even read those posts because they are not applicable to me. I just want to see people feel good. If another company came out today offering a better deal I would possibly try them and if they were professional and came through you would see their name being recommended by me not Direct. From now on anyone thinking about trying Direct I can't say to try going through your insurance. I have only paid the $50 a month and they have been absolutely nothing but professional and I can't say one bad thing about them. I'm certainly not getting anything for mentioning their name, there are enough people already doing that and If i was I think I would be doing it more than every 3-4 months when I post. What are they giving me $10 coupons to use on my next order and telling me not to say anything about that? I think not. Again, I just am saying based on my usage of this Med and all the other good things I hear and all the bad things I hear about generic which as I have said in the past doesn't work for me and quite a lot of people that they just try brand and have no ups and downs. Generics you really never know what your next prescription will bring you where brand you do. I am recommending Brand if you want to try to get your meds under control. I don't care who's selling it, I heard of a Canadian Company but I don't know them so won't recommend them. I really resent me trying to help because theres always some calculating untrusting undermining person who has to knock down what I feel is the final solution to using this drug for most of us. Eric stay on whatever your taking, worry about your insurance companies money, they don't have enough of it and keep having good and bad days. I'm saying pay the $50 only, I know nothing about going through insurance and I can only say dealing with them with the $50 plan they have been nothing but professional.

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I can't figure out why all these people on this blog just keep going round and round on the Welbutrin generic merry go round when it is so simple to pull your life together by buying name brand Wellbutrin at Direct Success Pharmacy for $50. I personally was so screwed up when I was switching to different generic manufacturers on a monthly basis I was pretty close to either having to go to a mental hospital, lose my job or kill myself. As soon as I discovered this blog and found out about the Direct Success name brand program I was immediately getting registered on their site and went to the Psych and told him to give me name brand and he wrote out the prescription and I sent it in or faxed it I don't remember which. Now after 8 months I am completely level and no more mental or physical illness! They don't need to be going through all this. This program is mentioned over and over again on here! Even though I have insurance I didn't give Direct Success my insurance info. They don't care. They just draft you debit card every month for $50! People spend $50 buying cokes and other junk each month without even realizing it but they want to keep on saving money searching for some generic which will never work. I just do not understand it!

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