DrugEvidence

Drugs / Bupropion

Bupropion

Drug

Bupropion is an atypical antidepressant also used for smoking cessation support and seasonal affective disorder. It is a norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor and is marketed under brands including Wellbutrin and Zyban. The medicine is prescription-only and has been in U.S. clinical use since the 1980s.

Trials
302
Recruiting
14
Completed
222
With results
116

Last revised

Pipeline

Phase by status

PhaseRecruitingNot yetBy invitationActiveCompletedTerminatedWithdrawnUnknownTotal
Early Phase 1 3111 6
Phase 1 250313 59
Phase 1/2 2611 10
Phase 2 1138211 44
Phase 2/3 1221 15
Phase 3 51223311 36
Phase 4 411163646 86
Not applicable 12248 35
Unknown 21323 11

Trials started per year

2021
2
2022
5
2023
9
2024
7
2025
10
2026
10
2027
1

Conditions studied, by phase

ConditionEarly Phase 1Phase 1Phase 1/2Phase 2Phase 2/3Phase 3Phase 4Not applicableUnknownTotal
Smoking Cessation 21112172182 64
Tobacco Use Disorder 1221156178 52
Depressive Disorder, Major 111563024 50
Depression 315162092 47
Smoking 31554771 33
Obesity 1222521 15
Schizophrenia 4261 13
Cigarette Smoking 41231 11
Bipolar Disorder 112221 9
Tobacco Use Cessation 342 9

Most active sponsors

#SponsorTrialsPhase 3
1National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)194
2Duke University144
3New York State Psychiatric Institute132
4Yale University92
5Axsome Therapeutics, Inc.64
6Actavis Inc.50
7Indiana University50
8M.D. Anderson Cancer Center52
9Pfizer50
10VA Office of Research and Development51

Most studied interventions

#InterventionTrials
1Bupropion302
2Varenicline36
3Tobacco Use Cessation Devices33
4Escitalopram32
5Midazolam27
6Sertraline23
7Nicotine Chewing Gum21
8Nicotine Replacement Therapy20
9Venlafaxine Hydrochloride19
10Naltrexone18

Evidence

Results reported
52.3%116 of 222 completed
Published
15.3%34 of 222 completed
Primary endpoint met
36.8%28 of 76 analyses
Median months to report
14

Documents disclosed

Protocol available
55
Statistical analysis plan
53
PubMed citations
102

Trial profile

Median enrollment
72
Median duration
31months
Countries
45
Study sites
2060

Who is enrolled

Adults
297
Children
21
Older adults
218
Healthy volunteers
114

Median enrollment by phase

Early Phase 1
31
Phase 1
28
Phase 1/2
35
Phase 2
82
Phase 2/3
72
Phase 3
403
Phase 4
91
Not applicable
80
Unknown
204

Where trials run

United States
210
Canada
23
South Korea
9
China
8
Germany
8
Spain
8
Belgium
7
United Kingdom
6
Australia
5
Brazil
5

Busiest cities

#CityCountryTrials
1New YorkUnited States30
2DurhamUnited States22
3Los AngelesUnited States16
4HoustonUnited States15
5Kansas CityUnited States14
6DallasUnited States13
7BostonUnited States12
8St LouisUnited States12
9MinneapolisUnited States11
10New HavenUnited States11

Terminations

Terminated
20
Withdrawn
9
Stopped for recruitment
4.6%14 of 302 trials

Stated reasons

Recruitment
14
Other / unclear
9
COVID-19
4
Business decision
1
Funding
1

Reasons are grouped from the sponsor's own wording with a rule-based classifier; the original text is shown below.

Recently stopped

TrialStatusStated reasonStopped
NCT07171112 Withdrawn Withdrawn Unable to recruit eligible participants. 2026-07-02
NCT04553263 Withdrawn Withdrawn Study never initiated 2025-01-11
NCT06374290 Terminated Terminated Unable to recruit eligible participants and expiration of study medication. 2024-12-04
NCT03326128 Terminated Terminated Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was difficult to recruit eligible participants. 2023-07-01
NCT04388189 Withdrawn Withdrawn No participants enrolled 2023-05-30
NCT04399395 Withdrawn Withdrawn Covid-pandemic 2022-12-31
NCT03993457 Terminated Terminated terminated during COVID due to inability to see participants in person. 2022-03-25
NCT03852160 Withdrawn Withdrawn New design was developed to better fit company strategy, a new study has replaced 5413541TRD3011 study 2021-07-25
NCT04464577 Withdrawn Withdrawn Business objectives have changed. 2021-06-08
NCT00958633 Terminated Terminated Recruitment was stopped before the planned sample size was reached owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and expiration of funding. 2020-05-20

Trial records

Individual study records live on ClinicalTrials.gov. A sample of the trials counted above:

Search all Bupropion trials on ClinicalTrials.gov →