Pebble Beach, CA Generic Drugs Not Always As Effective As Name Brands

There has been quite a bit of controversy over the shift from patent-protected drugs to generics, and whether or not all generics are as effective as their name-brand counterparts.  Certainly they should be if they use the same formula and high quality ingredients, but with off-shore sourcing and other problems, many have questioned whether this is the case.  In fact, I had a first-hand experience after switching from one name-brand drug to a generic.  I told the pharmacist that the generic wasn't working as well as the name-brand I had taken before and he conceded, "yes, I don't know why that would be, but we have gotten a lot of complaints about that."  It turns out it wasn't my imagination. I read today that the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has withdrawn its approval of a generic version of the antidepressant Wellbutrin after tests showed it didn't work as well as the name-brand drug.  The Budeprion XL 300 milligrams made by Impax Laboratories and marketed by Teva Pharmaceuticals must come off the market because the drug "is not therapeutically equivalent to Wellbutrin XL 300 mg," said the FDA.  There are big dollars at stake in cases like these and I am sure we will see a number of other well-known drugs have their generics tested for efficacy.  I certainly welcome the quality control.