Drug Name Trick

Now that we have discussed the main antibiotic classes, let’s learn some tricks to remember the
information!

The first trick will help you remember the drug names within each antibiotic class as most of the
medications share similar prefixes and/or suffixes.

**While this trick applies to most drug names within each class there may be a few exceptions.

Aminoglycosides = end in “mycin”

Cephalosporins = begin with “cef/ceph”

Tetracyclines = end in “cycline”

Penicillins = end in “cillin”

Sulfonamides = begin with “sulfa”

Fluoroquinolones = end in “floxacin”

Macrolides = end in “thromycin”

Carbapenems = end in “penem”

Lincosamides = end in “mycin”

Glycopeptides = end in “in/mycin”

Aminoglycosides, lincosamides, and glycopeptides can all end in “mycin” so be careful with
those.

Image: Use the above trick to remember the drug names in each antibiotic class.