Bupropion Extended Release (Wellbutrin XL)
Once-daily extended-release bupropion. It delays the parent-drug peak to about 5 hours without changing the approximately 21-hour elimination half-life.
Projected serum levels — 150 mg, once daily
Maintenance schedule: 150 mg once daily (oral).
Loading schedule: 279 mg on day 1, then 150 mg once daily — reaching therapeutic levels sooner.
Modeled steady state after ~3 days: peak ≈ 35.0 mg, trough ≈ 18.9 mg body load. Population-based estimate over 15 days for a 150 mg dose at a 70 kg reference body mass — the interactive app scales curves to your doses, timing, and body mass.
Key facts
- Category
- Antidepressant
- Route modeled
- Oral
- Model confidence
- predicted
- Half-life
- 21 h
- Common dose
- 150 mg
- Suggested maximum
- 450 mg/day
- Reference dose range
- 150–450 mg (single dose)
- Suggested cadence
- once daily
Research behind this entry
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A sustained-release bupropion for pharmacologic relapse prevention after smoking cessation: a randomized, controlled trial
RCT found sustained-release bupropion significantly delayed smoking relapse, with point-prevalence abstinence rates of 55% at 12 months versus 42% for placebo.
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Bupropion-SR, sertraline, or venlafaxine-XR after failure of SSRIs for depression (STAR*D)
Landmark STAR*D trial found bupropion was as effective as sertraline and venlafaxine as switch therapy after SSRI failure, with the advantage of less sexual dysfunction.
2 published studies referenced in the app, each with a plain-language summary.