N&P Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 http://www.icis.com/Articles/2008/03/10/91...in-effects.html Both drugs contained the same amount of active ingredient. However, when they were subjected to the dissolution testing methods described in the FDA's approval letters for Wellbutrin XL 300 and Budeprion XL 300, ConsumerLab discovered that the release rates for the two products were quite different. Whereas GSK's Wellbutrin XL 300 had released 8% of its bupropion HCl after two hours, Teva's Budeprion XL 300 had released 34%. After four hours, a similar disparity was observed: Well-butrin XL 300 had rel-eased 25% of the active ingredient, while Budeprion XL 300 had released 49%. It was only after eight hours that results for the two drugs became comparable, says Cooperman. "The more rapid release means that more active drug was getting into the blood stream faster with the generic than the originator compound, and [it] could easily explain why hundreds of people have reported on our website side effects [such as nausea and anxiety] typical of too much bupropion when they took the generic," says Joe Graedon. However, a generic can be considered bioequivalent even when there is a significant difference in release rates, notes Cooperman. For example, a twice-a-day (SR) version of bupropion HCl is permitted to release anywhere from 60-85% of its ingredient after four hours into a dissolution test, and anywhere from 80-100% or more by the end of the eight-hour test. I thought I felt a bigger surge of side effects (nausea and anxiety) in the first few hours after taking Budeprion than I did with Wellbutrin. Anyone else notice a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olga Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 A bunch of us tried the generic back in 2007. My insurance company made me do it. Here's a thread where we discussed it: http://www.crazyboards.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=15878 Some people didn't see a difference. I was switched to the Teva bupropion and within 3-4 weeks I was getting weepy and depressed by afternoon. I was fine in the morning. (I was taking it with breakfast). I'm paying through the nose for WB XL, but I wouldn't go back to the generic if you gave it to me for free. It just didn't work for me. YMMV. olga Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 Thanks for the link, Olga- I was just about to suggest a board-search because there was a lotlot of talk about this when many of us were getting switched over when it was first released. I was one of the many who didn't tolerate it well either-- I'd been on WB XL for a year or year and a half (?) and it'd been pretty steadily controlling the very worst of my depression along with Zoloft (generic, sertraline hcl) and I was therefore functional and mildly/depressed vs. suicidal. Yeah, I was alll over the place with the Teva generic and my mood would fluctuate a great deal within the day, I had a lot more breakdown/weepy episodes than I'd ever ever had in the past on this combo of meds. After a month and a half I couldn't deal with it anymore and made my pdoc write 'brand only' on my Rx and haven't gone back since-- I was back to normal within the next month. I'm lucky in that my copay is very reasonable ($10 generic, $20 brand) so I was paying $40/month for brand (450mg) when I got it back. I went a few months without insurance this year and manohman is WB XL expensive-- eeeesh but my only other option was Teva and I was never making that mistake again. It's made me pretty wary of switching to generics in general (just finished up my first month on generic lamictal and seem to be fine) but I'm pretty sure that Teva's Budeprion XL was the exception rather than the rule when it comes to most generics. This all said, there are now other generic WB XL alternatives on the market now and I haven't heard anything bad so far-- so the jury's still out on that. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
N&P Posted February 10, 2009 Author Share Posted February 10, 2009 I may be one of the "ok" ones...I hope. I haven't been on Wellbutrin in nearly 2 years so it's not like it's a "switch" to generics. Maybe that will make it easier on me...and I'm on 150mg so far. Maybe the 150mg is better than the 300mg. I hope Thanks for the link...I always forget about the search function. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meg Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 I think it's always easier to start with generic vs. switching to it-- you aren't used to a certain thing just to have it change when you like it the way it is, ya know? I bet the 150s are easier on people since if more is released earlier, at least it's not a whole TON like the 300mg tabs-- or that's how my reasoning would go. A lot of the complaints were about stomach upset and side effects since people weren't used to having that much in their system at a time, but keep in mind that there are plenty of people for whom the teva generic works just fiine-- they're just not the ones to go onto forums and talk about it. 'hey- so my generic is fine. average. didn't notice a difference.' vs. someone who had anxiety/nausea/moodswings 'OMG YOU GUYS! WHAT is going ON??' anyway, you get my point. give it a fair shot and have some comfort in the fact that if anything super wonky is going on that you might know why and how to fix it. goodluck. m Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffybirdie Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I tried a sample pack of the Teva XL about a bit ago, and could tell within a few days it wasn't right. My moods were all over the place and I was very irritable. That was my second go at a generic. I had tried Teva's SR formula taken twice a day, and that was quite a ride. I'm sticking with the brand, period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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