Absorption of Orally Administered Neomycin and Kanamycin

ORDINARILY, only small amounts of neomycin and kanamycin are absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract.1 2 3 The concentrations of drug achieved in blood and urine, even after relatively large oral doses, are not sufficient for the treatment of systemic infection and have not in the past been associated with the toxic effects that occur during parenteral therapy. Oral preparations of these drugs are extensively used for intestinal antisepsis because of their wide spectrum of activity against many intestinal micro-organisms, their major areas of usefulness being in the preparation of the bowel for surgery and in the treatment and prophylaxis of hepatic coma. . . .