What Is The Best Generic Version Of Wellbutrin Xl - Watson Or Anchen? (Page 60) (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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Do you happen to know who carries Par? I tried Walgreens, Walmart and target and no luck . Thanks so much for the help!

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THANK YOU! I thought I was going to have to switch to a generic since I am running out of what remains of my last Direct Success order. I found this page today and, thanks to the info in post 1126, I just ordered a coupon which will allow me to stay on the name brand. $100 a month is not as good as $50 but I'm still thrilled to not have to go generic.

*Here is the pertinent info from post 1126: "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 Valeant. I called and it is legit. 877-431-3578.... 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.)."

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I got it in about 10 days but it was expired. It said expiration: 12/31/16 and my pharmacy wouldn't accept it. I am livid. Don't know what to do now, I can't live without this drug. Generic gave me even more anxiety than before.

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Thank you. I am going to call Walgreens and see if maybe the person I last talked to was mistaken . Hopefully so!

On another note, has anyone heard of prescription hope ? I came across the website and it says you can get Wellbutrin for a discount . I don't know how legit it is .

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Gemeniguy: I feel the same way you do about Par. I'm curious about how you responded well to Par and badly to Anchen? In theory at least, they are the same thing (the A in the A102 marking on Par tablets stands for Anchen, which they bought out a few years back).

It was over 5 years ago that I discontinued Anchen. Maybe they changed something in the formulation since then. It wasn't just mental. There were also adverse physical effects with the Anchen. I experience none of this now with Par. I have my current prescription specifying "Par only". If the pharmacy switches to a different manufacturer as their standard Buproprion XL prescription, they will special order Par for me.

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CVS in Target has Par Pharm...at least in 300mg HCL XL. Just had mine filled. Ended up here because my reaction was different. Had a bit of skin flushing which I didn't have on Actavis, but my Adderall brand was also switched. Sleuthing it out.

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rw- I get my generic Wellbutrin at cvs as well. I have insurance but it cost $48 and some change for it. The pharmacist at the cvs I go to applied a coupon instead of using my insurance and it's only $28. I wouldn't have known anything about it had he not told me. Maybe ask your pharmacist about it? They told me I could stay using that coupon as long as I want, and still fill other prescriptions with my insurance. I tried the Walgreens brand which was actavis and it was terrible, cvs has been par and it's worked good, but I filled today at the same place and it was cipla still same price. Fingers crossed it works, I'm nervous about it.

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i just called and they are mailing me a coupon, to abruptly have to stop taking this medication is not looking pretty for me so hopefully I can get some coverage I cant afford $$$$ for something Ive been taking and paying 50.a month for before going on cobra

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i just called and they are mailing me a coupon, to abruptly have to stop taking this medication is not looking pretty for me so hopefully I can get some coverage I cant afford $$$$ for something Ive been taking and paying 50.a month for before going on cobra, just cannot believe we have paid 3500+ for a few months insurance for the sole purpose of being able to continue on this medication and then it not cover :(

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Is the Par Wellbutrin a white pill with A 102 on it ? I just picked mine up from CVS and they stated that it was PAR. Now I'm thinking maybe it isn't ?

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I took the Teva first starting in 2010, and, like a lot of us, buproprion gave me my life back. Then I had my first experience with Actavis back in 2011, and the first batch was like not taking anything, and then the next batch was great, so I decided that they had a quality-control problem and went on Watson, and it worked well for 2 years. Then when Watson and Teva pulled their buproprion from the market, I tried Par for a couple of months, and it was a steady decline -- it was like the pills didn't actually have the full dose of medication. Then I got on the name-brand through the Valeant program, and it was great, although not really much better than the Teva or Watson had been. When Valeant kicked me out of the program last year, I decided to give generic another try. I took Par for 6 weeks, and had the same experience -- it felt like a placebo. My pharmacist said that Actavis was an option, so I gave it a try, because my first experience was that only one batch was bad. It seemed to work well, and then this month my pharmacist told me that the merged Watson/Actavis company had taken the Actavis off the market and brought the Watson back. I test drove the Watson for two weeks, and had some odd problems. So now I'm taking the Actavis for a 2-week run and will give the Watson another two weeks.

I was quite happy with both the Teva (Impax Labs) and Watson versions, and had 10 months good experience to go along with two months bad with the Actavis. But for me the Par -- all of it -- just seemed weak.

All this is at the 150mg dose. I am perfectly willing to believe that these kind of differences -- which the drug manufacturers are NOT intending -- might not affect the different sizes the same way. (Which is also why I think that for people at the 300mg or 450mg doses it might be worth a try of experimenting with the 150mg generics with multiple pills, and experiment with spreading out the multiple pills throughout the day. Only taking one pill once per day is convenient, but not if you have to pay an extra $1400/month for a little convenience!)

For the cost difference of the generics it's certainly worth trying to figure out a way to make one work for you. And if you have a 30 or 60 day supply of brand name, it can give you a fallback position. If one of your little experiments is not working, you can give yourself a week of real wellbutrin and then try again with a different generic. And you need a pharmacist who understands the problems and is willing to order in different generics so that you can experiment, and also has the ability to control which generic you get. (I think some of the giant chains just buy whatever is cheapest in bulk, and a particular pharmacist at a particular store has no way to specify a manufacturer other than "brand" vs "generic". Which is supposed to be how generics are supposed to work -- it's not supposed to matter!)

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Direct Success is now working with the discount coupon from Valeant. I called DS to have my prescription transferred and she said they now have coupons. She ran my insurance and my copay is $5.00 for 30 pills.

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Did you call to "register" the coupon? I called to ask them, as I registered on the internet, and the website and the pamphlet the coupon came with both said it expired 12/31/2016. The lady said I was now registered for 2017 for 12 months. Now I just have to find a pharmacy that says they'll take it. Direct Success said they no longer fill Wellbutrin XL prescriptions.

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I just called Direct Success today and was told they no longer fill Wellbutrin XL prescriptions. Maybe I have to change pharmacies with each new coupon?

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I called Direct Success to ask to transfer my prescription. That's when she mentioned the new coupon. She put me on hold for a minute and then came back with news that I can fill for a $5.00 copay. I'll post when I actually get the refill.

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I filled mine at target cvs and I didn't get the PAR brand like usual. I wonder why

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Ok, that makes sense. So far it's worse than actavis but I'm going to give it a few weeks and see how it goes.

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Crosbysmom any update? Do you also have insurance or just the coupon ?

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Sarah, I have shipping confirmation on the refill. It will be here tomorrow.

I got a coupon, but the girl from direct success pharmacy didn't ask for it. She just said they had a new coupon.

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Thank you! Did you have to show your insurance card ? Walgreens asked for my insurance and since I don't have any they wouldn't use the coupon . It was $1970 without insurance ??

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