Zepbound and Wellbutrin: Is It Safe? Label, Studies
No interaction is listed; ask your pharmacist, since GLP-1 medicines can change how pills absorb.
- Verdict
- Ask your prescriber first
- Label names it
- No
- General caution
- Pills absorbed more slowly
Check a GLP-1 interaction
Zepbound overview
Its half-life is 5 to 6 days. At 5.5 d, half is gone; after five half-lives (27.5 d), about 3% remains.
In SURMOUNT-1 over 72 weeks, the result was 20.9% of body weight, compared with 3.1% on placebo.
Monthly prices in US dollars include the list price and self-pay offers, all taken from the maker's price page.
Sources: FDA label (DailyMed), Eli Lilly 1 2, cnbc.com.
Zepbound and Wellbutrin: the verdict
Ask your prescriber first
The Zepbound label states the following word for word in its drug interactions section:
“ZEPBOUND delays gastric emptying and thereby has the potential to impact the absorption of concomitantly administered oral medications. Caution should be exercised when oral medications”
Source: FDA label (DailyMed).
What Zepbound’s label says
Wellbutrin (bupropion) does not appear in the Zepbound label. Those lines apply to it as well.
| Named in the label | The risk | What the label tells doctors |
|---|---|---|
| Oral medicines | Pills absorbed differently | Stomach emptying slows down, which can change how other pills are absorbed. |
Source: Zepbound label (DailyMed).
What the studies show
- The label's Drug Interactions section
- oral medicines label interaction
- a seizure risk factor applies when insulin or pills are used to treat your diabetes
Source: FDA label (DailyMed).
The practical rule
- Tell both prescribers about the other medicine. Do not change either dose on your own.
- Inform the person who prescribes your GLP-1 about every pill you take, including this one.
- Ask your pharmacist if any of your pills need a steady blood level. These may need to be checked when you start the medicine or raise its dose.
Source: FDA label (DailyMed).
Wellbutrin with other GLP-1s
Wellbutrin (bupropion) does not appear in the drug interaction section of any of the 10 GLP-1 labels. Each one includes the same general warning about pills you swallow, so the answer applies across the class.
The same question also concerns Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro.
Source: FDA label (DailyMed).