Vibramycin (Doxycycline): General Information, Pricing, and More

Vibramycin is a broad—spectrum antibiotic used to treat respiratory, genitourinary, and venereal infections of bacterial origin, as well as certain groups of parasites. The active ingredient of Vibramycin is doxycycline, an antibiotic of the tetracycline group, which has the property of actively suppressing the vital activity of aerobic gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.

About Vibramycin

Doxycycline was discovered and patented in 1957. In the first years it was used in veterinary medicine to stimulate the growth of livestock. Later, the drug was used to treat people. The expiration of the patent for doxycycline made it possible to produce generics — completely identical drugs manufactured using the same technology and containing the same active substance.

One of the most popular and in-demand generics of doxycycline is considered to be Vibramycin in capsules with 100 mg dosage.

Vibramycin Pricing and Other Information

US residents can save money on their health care by purchasing generic versions of doxycycline from Canadian pharmacies. Generic drugs are generally much cheaper than brand-name drugs, and they are just as effective. In fact, generic vibramycin is simply a lower-cost version of the brand-name drug. Both drugs are used to treat bacterial infections, and they both have the same active ingredient. As a result, USA residents can save a significant amount of money by buying generic vibramycin from Canadian pharmacies. Not only will they save money on their prescriptions, but they will also be able to get the same high-quality medication.

Advantages of Generic Vibramycin

• The antibacterial effect of generic Vibramycin is in no way inferior to the therapeutic effect of doxycycline.
• Enhanced antibacterial qualities of the drug due to the modified formula of antibiotic synthesis.

Pharmacological Properties and Use of Vibramycin

What Vibramycin is For

Vibramycin is prescribed for the treatment of clinically confirmed infection with the following types of pathogens:

• Bacteroides fragilis, moraxella catarrhalis;
• staphylococci, streptococci;
• gonococci, plasmodium;
• bacillus anthrax, enterobacter;
• klebsiella, clostridia, listeria;
• mycoplasma, salmonella, shigella;
• E. coli, pertussis and pseudomonas aeruginosa,
• leptospira, vibrio cholerae;
• rickettsia, ureaplasma;
• pale spirochete, chlamydia.

It is noteworthy that Vibramycin does not affect the natural intestinal microflora.

How Vibramycin Works

The bacteriostatic action of Vibramycin is based on the ability of doxycycline to suppress protein synthesis in bacteria of the above-mentioned species, which makes it impossible for their further reproduction and leads to their rapid death.

A distinctive feature of Vibramycin is that the drug easily penetrates into all body fluids and tissues within 1-2 hours. This property significantly expands the therapeutic range of use of Vibramycin, including for the treatment of acute conditions.

Who Vibramycin Is For

Vibramycin is used to treat the following diseases:

• bacterial bronchitis and pneumonia;
• sinusitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis;
• acute epididymo orchitis, inguinal granuloma;
• non-gonococcal urethritis;
• gonococcal infections of the urethra, cervix and/or rectum;
• gonorrhea, syphilis, chlamydia;
• Lyme disease (tick-borne borreliosis);
• brucellosis, osteomyelitis;
• conjunctivitis, trachoma;
• leptospirosis, malaria, typhus, cholera.

By the decision of the attending physician, Vibramycin capsules can be prescribed for infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, soft tissues and skin.

Recommendations for the use of Vibramycin

How to Use Vibramycin

The standard scheme of taking Vibramycin is as follows:

• On the first day of treatment: 200 mg of the drug once or 100 mg at intervals of 12 hours.
• Subsequent days: 100 mg of the drug per day once or 50 mg every 12 hours.
• In severe infections, a dosage of Vibramycin 200-300 mg can be prescribed as a constant.

Vibramycin is recommended to be taken on an empty stomach, since food worsens the absorption of the drug in the stomach by 20%.

The regimen and daily dosage of the drug can be changed by the attending physician depending on the type of bacterial pathogen, the severity of the disease caused by it, as well as the age and body weight of the patient.

Contraindications

1. Severe forms of renal and/or hepatic insufficiency.
2. Systemic lupus erythematosus, leukopenia, porphyria.
3. Age under 8 years.
4. The period of pregnancy and breastfeeding (in women).
5. Allergy to tetracycline group drugs.

Side effects

With a probability of >5%, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, dizziness, glossitis and stomatitis, skin rash, urticaria, headache, pain in the stomach and / or liver, symptoms of esophagitis and / or gastritis, visual disturbances may also occur.

Overdose

If the recommended daily doses of the drug are exceeded, patients may experience symptoms characteristic of the side effects of Vibramycin.

Treatment: gastric lavage, taking activated charcoal at the rate of 1 tablet for every 10 kg of body weight of the patient. If necessary, symptomatic treatment.

Interaction with Other Drugs

It is strictly forbidden to take Vibramycin simultaneously with the following groups of drugs:

• Antibiotics of bactericidal action: Amoxicillin, Cefepim, Cefpir, etc.
• Retinol: due to the risk of increased intracranial pressure.
• Antacids: Acid Gone, Aldroxicon, Maalox, Pepcid Complete, Rulox, etc.

Combination of Vibramycin with the following drugs also requires caution:

• Barbiturates: Aprobarbital, Pentobarbital, etc.
• Carbamazepine, Phenytoin: due to a decrease in the antibacterial effect of Vibramycin.
• Indirect anticoagulants: Warfarin, Tromexan, Phenylin, etc.
• Preparations of calcium, magnesium, iron: Calcium Sandoz, Magnerot, Ferro Gradumet, etc.

Barbiturate group drugs reduce the therapeutic effectiveness of Vibramycin. The combination of Vibramycin with anticoagulants enhances the effect of the latter and can cause concealed internal bleeding.

Preparations with high content of iron, calcium and /or magnesium in combination with doxycycline promote the formation of inactive chelates, which in turn worsens the absorbability of Vibramycin.

Special Instructions and Precautions

• If the patient’s body weight is less than 50 kg, a correction of the daily dosage is required.
• Milk and dairy products impair the absorption of doxycycline.
• Taking Vibramycin with a large amount of fluid significantly reduces the likelihood of complications from the gastrointestinal tract.
• In the first 4-5 days of treatment with Vibramycin, increased photosensitivity in individual patients can be observed, which later passes independently.

FAQ

What if I missed my dose?

Immediately take the missed dose of the drug and then return to your common dosing schedule. It is not recommended to take a double dose of the drug in any circumstances — this can lead to an overdose and deterioration of your condition.

Is Vibramycin compatible with alcohol?

No. Any antibiotics, including Vibramycin, are categorically incompatible with alcoholic beverages.

Can children take Vibramycin?

Vibramycin is strictly contraindicated in children under the age of eight because tetracycline group drugs slow down the rate of formation of the skeleton and increase the fragility of bones, increasing the risk of fractures (including compression fractures).

Does Vibramycin help from COVID-19?

No, there is no legitimate scientific evidence that Vibramycin helps in treatment of COVID-19. Initially, it was believed that Vibramycin was effective for the treatment of bacterial pneumonia caused by the action of the causative agent of the disease, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but subsequent clinical observations refuted this theory.

Does Vibramycin affect the effectiveness of oral contraceptives?

Recent medical studies refute earlier claims that Vibramycin reduces the contraceptive effect of estrogen-containing oral contraceptives.