fixed-dose combination drugs

fixed-dose combination drugs

commercially available drug preparations containing several remedies. Veterinary therapeutic supply lists contain many examples of combinations of antibiotics. These preparations contain their drugs in fixed combinations and therefore have some advantages and some disadvantages. The advantages are that a broad spectrum of antibiotic activity can be achieved, an important feature in veterinary work because so many infections are mixed ones, and the possibility of resistant bacterial populations emerging is reduced.

One disadvantage is that the drugs in the combination may be antagonistic. The antibiotics most likely to demonstrate this activity are the tetracyclines, the macrolides and chloramphenicol. The principal disadvantage is that the dose rate of each of the component drugs is dictated by the content of the other drugs present, a serious matter if the causative bacteria and its sensitivity are known.