The danger of fixed drug combinations.

After the second world war a number of pharmaceutical firms which were not able to create new therapeutic substances by their own research, put a great number of fixed drug combinations on the market. Their number quickly increased, as the efficiency of these compounds required no legal proof and as, with appropriate propaganda, large profits could be earned. The number of firms doing this sort of production also increased, and in West Germany, for instance, more than 3/4 of all drugs on the official list are now fixed combinations. Our task is, therefore, to ask for regulations which limit fixed combinations to such preparation the efficiency of which has been shown and whose advantages more than outweigh their disadvantages. The advantages of these preparations are convenience to the patient, avoidance of potential mistakes made possible by too many drugs given on the same day and, perhaps, lower prices. The disadvantages are: 1. The individual optimum dose for a patient cannot be achieved, because in case of a change of dosis all components are changed. 2. Different components may have different duration of action. 3. Different components may have a different bioavailability. 4. Different components may interact. 5. Some components may create tolerance, others not. In many cases fixed combinations have been used to make drugs with poor efficiency financially viable by combining them with very efficient drugs. The existence of thousands of fixed combinations makes the drug market indiscernible and useless. They obscure the relatively few essential drugs and make it difficult for the doctor to find his way amongst the mass of offered medicaments. Few fixed combinations are justifiable. These are well known and they should be permitted as before. All others should be banned until it has been shown that their advantages are greater than their disadvantages.