i am glad you raised this question. bupropion is the generic or chemical name of the drug and budeprion and wellbutrin are brand names. drugs can have both a generic name and a brand name. the fda released a statement that the brand named medication; budeprion xl 300 mg is not therapeutically equivalent to the brand named medication wellbutrin xl 300 mg. this means that these two versions of bupropion xl 300 mg do not work the same when given to patients. when a suffix or ending is attached to a drug that refers to how often it is taken. bupropion xl (extended release) is taken once daily; bupropion sr (sustained release) and is taken twice daily; and bupropion 300 mg (immediate release) is taken 3 times daily. the fda statement pertained only to the xl 300 mg dose. when brand named medications lose their patents different manufacturers can make their version or the medication can be marketed under the generic name. generic and brand named drugs should contain the exact same active drug and have the same dosage intended use action side effects risks and safety. the difference between generics and different brands of the same drug is that they may vary in the inactive components. these inactive components include dyes and fillers. the fda does studies to make sure that all the different brands and generic formulations are the same. the fda did the studies on the dose of bupropion xl 150 mg and concluded that all the manufacturers were making equivalent medications. the fda did not study the 300 mg dose but assumed the 300 mg would be just as good. due to complaints from patients the fda finally studied the 300 mg dose and found that the budeprion and the wellbutrin version of bupropion xl 300 mg were not the same. there was a difference in the rate to which they were released into the blood stream. there are ongoing studies on the manufacturers of other versions of bupropion xl 300 mg. some physicians feel that the differences in the inactive components of a drug do influence the availability of a drug to the target tissue (bioavailability). this difference is not usually felt to be clinically significant. talk to your doctor about your use of bupropion to determine whether the formulation you are using is the right one for you.
is bupropion the same as budeprion. that's all i want to know. i have been taking buproprion for a year and have never felt it did much good. is it the same drug as budeprion? the fda has just released a statement stating that budeprion is not equivalent to wellbutrin so i'd like to know. thank you