The Officina pharmacist is often confronted with preparations that associate erythromycin with a corticoid ester in one cream. How should we tackle such a combination? When a pharmacist is confronted with a prescription where erythromycin is associated in one cream with a dermocorticoid that is unstable in an alkaline environment, he/she may propose the following to the prescriber:
one of four esters with better stability, namely hydrocortisone acetate, Prednisolone acetate, triamcinolone acetonide or betamethasone dipropionate use. The preparation can then be realized in a base that is compatible with erythromycin (unbuffered Cetomacrogol cream). The shelf life period is 4 weeks at room temperature.
Prepare two different creams in which erythromycin is incorporated into the unbuffered Cetomacrogol cream while the corticosteroid ester is processed in the buffered Cetomacrogol cream TMF. In this case, an interval of at least one hour between the application of both creams must also be respected.
AUTHOR: APR. Valérie Schaus Centre for pharmaceutical information, CWOA – APB mail to: Valerie.schaus@apb.be acquired with approval from pharmaceutical Journal for Belgium, April 2014. The full article can be found in the appendix