Currax Pharmaceuticals

Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion)

6.3

halfrx score

Non-GLP-1 oral option. Modest loss, but it is a pill and it is cheap.

All-in, per month

$99

$99 once titrated — the figure this site scores on

✓ verified 2026-09-22Visit Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion) ↗

Medication: brand
Avg weight loss: 5.4%
Form: pill
Price checked: 2026-09-22

RxNorm 1551469 for the product, 105069 for the ingredient. The codes the US National Library of Medicine assigns, so this page names one specific thing rather than a brand that could mean several.

It carries a boxed warning — the strongest the FDA issues

Bupropion raises the risk of suicidal thoughts and behavior in children, adolescents and young adults. The label carries that as a boxed warning and tells prescribers to watch for mood changes, particularly in the first months and after any dose change.

From FDA prescribing information for CONTRAVE. Everything the label lists, including who cannot take it →

$99/mo through the manufacturer's CurAccess Patient Support Program, which its prescriber site still calls the Contrave Home Delivery Program. The contrave.com home page reads "if your insurance doesn't cover CONTRAVE, you will pay no more than $99". Retail without it runs several hundred dollars a month.

What this page used to say

2026-09-13 — Whether Contrave's side effects are gastrointestinal, and when opioids rule it out. Was: This is not a GLP-1: it is naltrexone plus bupropion, and its risks are neurological and cardiovascular rather than gastrointestinal. Anyone taking an opioid, including buprenorphine for addiction, cannot take it at all. Now: This is not a GLP-1: it is naltrexone plus bupropion, and its boxed warning and main serious risks concern mood, seizures, opioid use and blood pressure. Its most common side effect is still nausea: in the trials 24% stopped because of an adverse event, against 12% on placebo, and nausea was the most common reason, at 6.3%. Anyone on long-term opioid treatment, including buprenorphine for addiction, cannot take it; for a short course of opioids it is paused, and lower opioid doses may be needed.
2026-09-12 — How long Contrave's escalation takes. Was: The whole escalation is four weeks, so unlike the GLP-1s the introductory price and the running price are nearly the same month. Now: The dose changes and the bill does not: Currax's CurAccess program charges $99 a month for Contrave, with no price by dose. The escalation takes three weeks, and the full dose of two tablets twice a day starts in week 4.
2026-09-12 — The condition listed for Contrave Home Delivery. Was: Contrave's label trial measured 5.4% weight loss against 20.9% in tirzepatide's own trial — separate trials, but a gap wide enough that the low price buys a materially weaker result.
2026-09-11 — A point in its favor that no longer stood. Was: $99/mo direct from the manufacturer's home delivery program — cheaper than every GLP-1 route on this site, branded or compounded. Now: $99 a month direct from the manufacturer's home-delivery program — below every branded GLP-1 on this site, and tied with the cheapest compounded route.
2026-09-11 — Pointed a footnote at the source it rests on. Was: Cited: COR-II: randomized phase 3 trial of naltrexone SR/bupropion SR. Now: Cited: FDA prescribing information for CONTRAVE.
2026-09-11 — The catch printed under a savings program. Was: Contrave delivers about 6.4% weight loss against roughly 21% for tirzepatide, so the low price buys a materially weaker result. Now: Contrave's label trial measured 5.4% weight loss against 20.9% in tirzepatide's own trial — separate trials, but a gap wide enough that the low price buys a materially weaker result.
2026-09-05 — Changed the trial figure to the intention-to-treat result on the FDA label. Was: COR-II, phase 3: 6.4% mean weight loss at week 56 against 1.2% on placebo. Now: 5.4% — COR-I on the label, 56 weeks: 5.4% mean weight loss on 32 mg/360 mg against 1.3% on placebo, intention-to-treat.
2026-09-05 — Replaced the serious reactions on the side-effects page with the label's section 5, in the label's order. Was: Five items, starting with seizures: seizures, raised blood pressure and heart rate, suicidal thoughts and behavior, angle-closure glaucoma, hepatotoxicity. Now: The label's ten section-5 headings in order: suicidal thoughts and behavior; neuropsychiatric events reported with bupropion for smoking cessation; seizures; opioid overdose and precipitated withdrawal; increase in blood pressure and heart rate; allergic reactions; hepatotoxicity; activation of mania; angle-closure glaucoma; hypoglycemia in type 2 diabetes on antidiabetic therapy.
2026-09-05 — Rewrote the contraindications on the side-effects page to match section 4 of the label. Was: Six items, including 'Pregnancy' and 'any condition that lowers the seizure threshold', and omitting other bupropion products, bulimia or anorexia nervosa, and allergy to the ingredients. Now: The label's eight: uncontrolled hypertension; seizure disorder or history; other bupropion-containing products; bulimia or anorexia nervosa; chronic opioid, opiate agonist or partial agonist use, or acute opiate withdrawal; abrupt discontinuation of alcohol, benzodiazepines, barbiturates or antiepileptics; MAOIs within 14 days; known allergy to bupropion, naltrexone or any component.

Every correction on this site, dated →

How much does Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion) cost a month?

halfrx records Contrave (naltrexone/bupropion) at $99 a month all-in, read from its own published page on 2026-09-22. The figure that matters is $99 once titrated, because the starting dose is not the dose anyone stays on, and that is the number this site scores. It carries one flag on this site: boxed warning. It scores 6.3 out of 10 on a published formula that is arithmetic over the facts on this page, not an editor's opinion. The cheapest verified maintenance price on the site is $75, so this sits above the floor rather than at it. Average weight loss in the trial cited on the page is 5.4%. The medication is the branded, FDA-approved product rather than a compounded copy. The page rests on 4 cited sources, at least one of them a manufacturer, regulator or journal. Anything past 45 days without a re-check is marked stale here rather than quietly aging. Molecules: naltrexone, bupropion.

Tracked since 2026-08-20. Last corrected on 2026-09-11 — see what this page used to say, above.

No clinician has reviewed this page. Label and trial statements are quoted from the FDA label or the trial cited beside them. General guidance is marked as such, and every price carries the date it was verified. That is sourcing, not medical review. What we do and do not check · Who checked the price

Weaker moleculeBoxed warning

What is good about Contrave?

+$99 a month direct from the manufacturer's CurAccess program — below every branded GLP-1 on this site, and tied with the cheapest compounded route.[1]
+Oral, no injections, no refrigeration, no titration involving needles.[2]
+Works on appetite and reward pathways rather than gut hormones, so it is an option for people who cannot tolerate GLP-1 side effects.[3]
+The bupropion component may help if you also want to stop smoking or have low mood.[3]

What are the downsides of Contrave?

−5.4% mean weight loss at 56 weeks in COR-I, the trial on its label — about a third of semaglutide and a quarter of tirzepatide.[4]
−Boxed warning for suicidal thoughts and behaviors from the bupropion component.[3]
−Contraindicated with uncontrolled hypertension, seizure disorders and opioid use — the opioid interaction matters, because naltrexone blocks opioid pain relief in an emergency.[3]
−Placebo arm lost 1.3%, so the drug-attributable effect is about four points rather than the headline figure.[4]

How this score is built

0.9/3.5Evidence — 5.4% mean weight loss, the intention-to-treat result on the FDA label
3.0/3Approval — FDA approved for chronic weight management
2.4/2.5Cost — $99/mo at maintenance
0.0/1Caveats — −1.0: weaker molecule −0.5, boxed warning −0.5