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Updated: Feb 22, 2026

Diagonal Method to Measure Synergy Among Any Number of Drugs
Published on: June 21, 2018
[For an optimal use of fixed drug combinations]
Gilles Bouvenot1, Jean Sassard2, Jean-Louis Montastruc3
1Service de médecine interne, gériatrie et thérapeutique, hôpital Sainte-Marguerite, faculté de médecine de Marseille, 270, boulevard de Sainte-Marguerite, 13009 Marseille, France.
Abstract:
Due to the increasing use of fixed-dose combination therapy (FC) for treating several pathological conditions, the authors discuss their advantages (simplification of drug intakes and thus possible better compliance, rationale of pharmacological associations and drug dosages) and their disadvantages (limited dosage flexibility, possible misunderstanding of the co-administered drugs due to non-utilization of International nonproprietary name…) versus advantages and disadvantages of free drug combinations. Several recommendations are proposed. If FC is not in fact a problem in young adults with stable diseases, it should be cautiously prescribed for all the other patients, especially in elderly suffering from several diseases. FC should be only proposed after prescribing separately the different components, and should be regularly reassessed.
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