Using five or more drugs

Sometimes using a combination with more individual drugs could be considered.  

If you have no fully active drugs, using more drugs that are all partially active might work.

Although most research studies did not find this worked, this might have been due to the study designs.

What you are trying to do is:

• Use ANY drug that may work.
• Not RELY on a drug that may not work.

The weaker a combination is, the less likely it will work long term. Multi-drug therapy is really a way to buy time until new drugs are available.

The studies using five or more drugs that reported the best results also used TDM to ensure the most effective individual doses.

Last updated: 1 January 2025.