A Tale of Two Wellbutrins

Bausch Health owns the brand name for Wellbutrin XL 300 mg and manufactures the drug in Canada and the US. Bausch Health manufactures two brand name Wellbutrin XL 300 mg products, one pill is sold in Canada and elsewhere the other pill is sold in the US. There is a difference between the two brand name pills related to their markings and time release coating.

Many patients in the US who are prescribed Wellbutrin XL 300 mg for their medical needs find that the generic form or the Canadian brand name product does not work as well for them as the American brand name product. The FDA requirement for generic drugs is that they contain the same amount of active ingredient in the medication but it does not require that the time release components or other components be the same as the original brand name product.

This is a grievous clinical error. Both versions of Wellbutrin XL 300 mg have the same exact brand name but have different time release components. American pharmacies can import the original Wellbutrin XL 300 mg and resell it in the United States, however, a US citizen can not have a Canadian doctor prescribe the original Wellbutrin XL 300 mg and have it shipped to them in the US. They can have the Canadian brand name ordered and shipped to them in the US.

Does this sound crazy? Why do you think this is? Pharmacy Checker online compares the cost of Canadian medications for accredited pharmacy shippers in Canada to the US. The price of the Canadian brand name Wellbutrin XL 300 mg shipped to the US for a 90 day supply is $114.95 which includes a $14.95 shipping fee the US brand name Wellbutrin XL 300 mg costs $6,303.11 for a 90 day supply.

Does it make any sense that a brand name can be sold and used to promote a product with a completely different formula? This is like Coke selling the brand name “Coca Cola” to Pepsi and they can put that name on their cola product. Shouldn’t the law be that a generic medication means that it is manufactured by a different company but has the exact same ingredients, but it is sold under a different brand name?

Shouldn’t the law be that if you sell the brand name you are selling the entire product? Aren’t we getting tired of being ripped off and paying twice as much for healthcare than any other developed nation and getting less? “No, it is not more expensive to manufacture the original formulation of Wellbutrin XL than its generic versions; in fact, the opposite is true."

Valeant owned the rights to Wellbutrin XL in 2015 and made a business decision that rather than compete in the broader pharmaceutical market with their original Wellbutrin XL formulation they would just drastically up the price for the patients in the market that need the original formulation of Wellbutrin XL. The revenue from in 2013, before the price increase, was $150 million in 2015 after the price increase the revenue was 300 million dollars. They could have lowered their price and marketed their product as the original formulation and the best alternative on the market, most likely grabbing the lion’s share of the current 5 billion dollar global market.

Bausch Health has also developed Aplenzin that has a variation of the bupropion in Wellbutrin with a different time release technology without any generic substitute. Is it possible that part of Bausch Health's marketing strategy was not to lower the price of Wellbutrin XL so that Aplenzin would not have a low-cost, effective alternative?

Raymond Fusco
Bradenton