What Is The Best Generic Version Of Wellbutrin Xl - Watson Or Anchen? (Page 28)

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 received my order from Direct Success Pharmacy today. I am relieved to say that these are identical to the ones I paid $300+ for. The labels are identical, the pills look identical, and even the bottle is identical, with the same raised relief diagram on top (push down, then turn, lol). These came from Valeant. I do believe that Valeant is the official name brand manufacturer now, whether or not their formula is EXACTLY the same as when GSK made them, they are now the company that has the official logo so I'm guessing bought the formula. I am so very relieved. For $150 I got a three-month supply. Or you can go $50 per month. When I insisted on name brand from the pharmacy, I got this same thing. I don't know how much more sure I could be without seeing the actual formula but she assured me these are manufactured by Valeant in the US.

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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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Glad to hear it! This program seems almost too good to be true.

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I've been using WellbutrinXL from Direct Success for weeks now, as stated in previous posts, several pages back. I have no issues with the pills. Life is good.

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At the end of last year I read about the Direct Success program and obtained 3 months of the brand name Wellbutrin, 300 XL. At first I felt 10 years younger. I had so much energy. After a month my heart and pulse were racing. For me there was something in it that I couldn't tolerate. Went to dr. and BP that is normally 110/70 was 140/80! Went back to generic (don't know manufacturer - round and white) and am doing great on 150 XL. I think sometimes we just need a change as our body gets used to them and each person's body is different. Also, side effects for each person are different. I am glad to be on a reduced amount now. Hope you all find what works for you. My faith in God helps more than anything! All the best.

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I am signed up for the Wellbutrin Guarantee Program and am waiting for my first shipment. I pray that this is the answer, since none of the generics work for me. I have been off my meds for over a month now and I am finding it very hard to function and live my life. I will keep everyone updated and let you know what happens once I have my new meds.

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I took the Teva 150mg for the first year that I was on "wellbutrin". Then my pharmacy refilled, and I got about 30 of the Teva and 60 of a different pill -- white and same diameter, but thicker. Because of the way that they were in the bottle -- the 60 Activis were poured in first and the 30 Teva on top, I took the Teva first. After a terrible couple of months, it was time for another 90-day refill. I keep a couple of days supply of each of my meds in a container in my purse just in case I am away from home when it is time to take them. I take the buproprion first thing in the morning, so I almost never use the purse stash, so each time I refill I "rotate my stock" to avoid ending up with old expired meds in my purse. At the point that I am looking at my Activis thick pills in the brand new refill and the Teva thin pills that had been in my purse for 3 months, the light bulb went off -- all of my terrible symptoms started when I switched from thin to thick (Teva to Activis). But the next thing I realized -- I had already been taking the new batch of Activis for the previous 4 or 5 days, and all of those symptoms that I had been having over the previous 2 months had already disappeared!

I made the obvious connection at that point that Activis has a QUALITY CONTROL problem. It's not that they are different from the brand name, but that it's different from batch to batch -- AACCCKKK!!! Given that I had most of a 90-day supply of a batch that was working, I took the liberty of doing some research. I found all of the discussion of Teva being bad, and so sat down with my pharmacist. We decided that Teva was probably risky, but people were saying Watson was good, so from March 2012 through December of 2013 I put "Watson brand only" on my prescription and did great. In the 150mg size, the Teva and Watson are actually the same color, size and thickness, although they have different printing on them.

Then in Dec I got a refill and didn't notice for a couple of weeks that the pills were thicker. Until I started having more depression symptoms -- basically it's like the pills have completely worn off by afternoon. By evening I'm having crying jags, and am totally exhausted. So I went back to the pharmacist, and asked, "hey, where's my Watson?!?" and was told that EVERYTHING but the Par at 150mg has disappeared. And not the normal behavior of a discontinued drug where it is still available in warehouses for months/years, but completely gone like it's been pulled off the market.

I then started doing research... I found the FDA info about the trials that they did on the 300mg Teva. They talked about the issues (which are NOT about the amount of the active chemical, but the delivery mechanism.) This particular drug is metabolized very very quickly in comparison to other drugs, and if your body metabolizes drugs more quickly than the average person then you need a time-release mechanism that works for the drug to work. Then I found the updates, where they analyzed all of the other four 300mg versions, and discovered that the Watson didn't have the right uptake rate over time, either.

But they said very very clearly that this was the 300mg pill, not the 150mg pill, and that they examined the uptake timing of the 150mg pills -- all manufacturers -- back in 2006-2007 before they came on the market.

I also found the FTC materials where in order to approve the Watson buyout of Activis, they forced Activis to sell 21 of their drugs to either Par or Sandoz. The Activis buproprion (that I had the quality control problem with) was SUPPOSED to be sold to Sandoz. And Par bought Anchon. So these Par pills that I have been taking since December (which look suspiciously like Activis -- white, round, same diameter as Teva and Watson, thicker like Activis, stamped "A 101" on them) are supposedly Anchen.

Ok, I am trying to figure out what the heck is going on? I am not a 300mg user, but it looks like the problems with the 300mg size, and the mergers, have ended up with there only being one 150mg manufacturer of generic buproprion, and it's stuff that doesn't work on me!!!!

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Well I went over and had another conversation with my pharmacist this morning (small mom & pop operation...) He looked in a couple of places and found that the only suppliers of 150mg generic wellbutrin XL are Par and Activis. I had a thought that somebody here might know the answer to -- are the pills being sold under the Activis brand the same as the old Activis or the old Watson?

Both pills are small, round and white, with approximately the same diameter. But the old Activis was distinctly thicker. In fact, the current Par looks very much the same as the old Activis, while the Watson (and Teva) were thinner.

I'm not sure that it's relevant what is stamped on the pills -- but the delivery mechanism is key to the functioning of this drug, and you probably can't change the time release mechanism without changing the size and shape of the pill.

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I take anchen Buproprion, and I am not having luck at all. My mornings are especially hell-like. I take 2 150 mg., in the morning. The last 14 months I have been through two treatment programs, three leaves from work, and out of desperation to lift my suicidal thoughts, did ect, which lifted it, but at short intervals. I continued maintenance ect, as it was the only thing working, but quit because it was so hard on me physically after 14 treatments.

Please reply to me and let me know your results/thoughts.

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Finally! Someone having the same problem as me!! Last July our ins. plan changed to OptumRx and they sent me 90 days of one mfg'd by PAR instead of the Activis-mfg'd generic I'd taken for 10+ years with no problems and great success. After dbl-ckg that it really was generic Wellbutrin 150XL (since it looked different) I started taking it, assuming (mistakenly) that it would work the same as the Activis.
Five days in, I started having headaches and began feeling "lower" each day. Didn't really put it together until I just happened to notice a very familiar-looking little white tablet floating in the toilet (sorry for the graphic desc.). Thought maybe it was just the empty 'shell' from the new generic so let it go until I started seeing the same thing EVERY DAY. Decided to get brave and put on some latex gloves to 'fish one out' (gross I know) and make sure it was just an empty shell. Well, you can guess what I found -- an almost perfectly intact pill that was 100% full of still-powdery medicine!! Found the same thing for five more days and was now feeling horrible (no wonder, right?)...

Longer story short, called local pharmacist and she looked up what "inactive" ingredients were used in the coating of the PAR vs the Activis and said that there was one key ingredient that was different and in her opinion was probably the reason for the PAR pill not dissolving as well [name of the ingredient is: Methacrylic Acid Ethyl Acrylate Copolymer (1:1) Type A] - YIkes!! Anyway, she thought that also explained why the PAR pill had a shiny plastic-looking coating (vs the regular dull coating of the Activis pill) and therefore was not as easily dissolved (at least by my digestive system)... Consequently, had to start buying the Activis retail at Sam's or WalMart since OptumRx basically said I had to take whatever brand of generic they carried or I was on my own. I've been doing just that for 9 mos but just found out that Activis has discontinued mfging the drug so I'm now on a mission to find another generic brand before I run out of the Activis I still have... Would love to know if anyone else has had a similar problem and if they've found a replacement brand that works well for them...

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Oh my gosh, I see the pills as well. I wasn't sure if that is what the round white pill shape was; but now I think it is. I have had this hunch for about 2 weeks; but my self esteem is so flat, that I never know what is right and what is wrong.

I will be putting latex on in the morning as well!

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Second Generic Version of Popular Antidepressant to be Pulled from Market for Bioequivalency Issues.

(FDA Update on Generic Wellbutrin XL 300 mg)

"On Friday the FDA quietly announced that a second generic version of Wellbutrin XL 300 mg, a popular antidepressant manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline, has been found to not be bioequivalent to the drug and will be pulled off the market."

Reference: raps.org/focus/news/news-article-view/article/4184/second-generic-version-of-popular-antidepressant-to-be-pulled-from-market-for-b.aspx

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It's not working for you! Can you afford the $50 a month to switch to name brand through Direct Success or have your doctor switch you to something different? There is no justification to making you suffer with drugs that don't work for you. He may be able to get your insurance to cover name brand by writing a letter specifying that the generic doesn't work for you. Good luck!

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I had been taking Activas 300 mg for a long while and never really knew anything else. On occasion I would get a different generic and always really felt bad but was not aware what caused it or didn't alleviate it. The overall experience I had was not good, it never felt like anything was very different with my mood, energy, depression, etc. about 6 months ago I was abruptly switched to A 102 Anchen and from day one felt a huge difference. Things were good and I felt like for the first time I was on the right brand and for the most part it worked really well although sometime for no reason it on occasion left me feeling somewhat lethargic or just feeling like blah till my next dose. After reading this post I decided to try brand name Wellbutrin XL 300 mg, well I have to agree with what many people said and can say the effect from day one was dramatically different in so many ways it's hard to believe that there is such a difference. My energy level peaks sooner and the effects last until into the night. I feel great and happy for the first time since being on Activas brand, about 6 years. Everything described in the forum is accurate. One thing I noticed is that my mind races a little so I feel anxiety which I am prone to. Overall its great to read up on your medications because as I said for years I just went along with the program not knowing what this drug is supposed to make you feel and I recommend anyone who thinks they tolerate their current meds even though you don't feel great to at least try the brand. The bad part is it cost me $231.00 for some reason though United health care via AARP. What a ripoff Medicare perscription plans can be if you don't use just generics through mail order or a place like walgreens. It's substantially more for brand if you go to a private drugstore but the relationship I have with my pharmacist is priceless and I'll never give up the service I get from him to stand on line like a heard of cows waiting at a target or something like it but that just a personal preference and with generics it's not substantially more maybes $2 per perscription. Anyway IMO the brand is best with the A102 Anchen brand being close second. I say the number because I don't know if Anchen has been bought by another company or not but when I look it up it comes up as Anchen. Good luck to everyone, I hope you all find the right meds that make you feel well. Me, I don't know if I'll stay on brand because of the cost and how Anchen to me is almost just about as good for the most part. I'll see how I feel after a month on brand then decide, I have to see if it wears off after a while because I felt pretty close to this good when I started the other one too so time will tell.

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After I retired, my drug plan changed to Optum Rx. Originally, they refused to pay for namebrand Wellbutrin xl. They stated I needed to take a generic brand first (Step drug) After 2 weeks I had a bad reaction, and my doctor submitted a form to Optum Rx stating that I could only take the name brand. I now receive a 90 day supply of Wellbrutin xl. The information is on the Optum Rx web site or in their handbook. Good luck and let me know if this information helped.

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What number is printed on your pill. I'm curious because I was on Anchen A108 but I heard Par bought them out.

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I too saw that report and ran to CVS with it. The recall was october of 2013 and the Actavis 300 xl bupropion has been reformulated and re released to comply....At least that is what CVS says and I can't find anything on line to back them up so not sure I am buying into their claim.

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No need to pay more than $50 a month, you can get it through Direct Success online.

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Yes... I Have been on it for years with great success. Unfortunately, it is not to be found anywhere. I have no idea what happened to Mylan generic but I was abruptly switched to another generic (activas) and it has been horrible. It feels like I haven't taken any Wellbutrin at all.

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A few weeks ago I purchased brand 300 XL from my pharmacist. Reading the label it says and I quote "Manufactured in Canada by Valeant Pharmaceuticals for Valeant Pharmaceuticals North America LLC" Thats the gist of it leaving out some addresses. So according to what others have described this is the real deal, I would swear by it comparing it to other descriptions on here. I paid $331.00 my end and I plan on going to the mail order Direct success when Im due for my refill. I don't see how it can be different based on what Ive heard. So far great success compared to the generics.

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