Gentamicin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands
Gentamicin is a medicine sold in the U.S. under 4 brand and generic names. Below: what the FDA label says, every product that contains it, what the pills look like, and its recall record.
Key facts
- Available as
- Drops · Topical · Injectable · Solution
- Sold as
- 4 products — Gentacidin, Gentamicin Sulfate and Garamycin, and others
- Prescription?
- Prescription only
- Generic available?
- Yes
- What the pharmacy pays
- about $0.95 per gm — not your price
Every gentamicin product we track (4)
Same active ingredient — different manufacturer, form, price and FDA recall record. That last one is what our independent score measures.
| # | Drug | Rating | Type | Form | Generic? | Pharmacy pays | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 70/100 | Prescription | Drops | Generic | $1 | View → | |
| 2 | 70/100 | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $1 | View → | |
| 3 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Injectable | Generic | $1 | View → | |
| 4 | Not yet rated | Prescription | Topical | Generic | $1 | View → |
Combination products containing gentamicin
A combination is a different drug — different dosing, different warnings. It is listed here so you can find it, not so you can substitute it.
Gentamicin recalls
From the FDA Enforcement database. A recall covers specific lots — not the drug as a whole.
How long gentamicin keeps
No gentamicin label we read sets a separate limit for after opening, but they do specify how it must be stored — and the stability behind any date assumes those conditions.
Does gentamicin expire? The in-use limits and storage rules from its labelsGentamicin and breastfeeding
From LactMed, the US National Library of Medicine’s Drugs and Lactation Database — quoted, not rewritten.
Full LactMed record for gentamicin: levels in milk, effects in breastfed infants, and the drugs it would consider insteadGentamicin is poorly excreted into breastmilk. Newborn infants apparently absorb small amounts of gentamicin, but their serum levels with three times daily dosages are far below those attained when treating newborn infections and systemic effects of gentamicin are unlikely. Older infants would be expected to absorb even less gentamicin. Because there is little variability in the milk gentamicin levels during multiple daily dose regimens, timing breastfeeding with respect to the dose is of little or no benefit in reducing infant exposure. Data are not available with single daily dose regimens. Monitor the infant for possible effects on the gastrointestinal flora, such as diarrhea, candidiasis (e.g., thrush, diaper rash) or rarely, blood in the stool indicating possible antibiotic-associated colitis.
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, record revised June 15, 2024. LactMed states its information is not a substitute for professional judgement.
What people report to the FDA about gentamicin
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) collects reports from patients and clinicians. It holds 3,321 reports naming gentamicin, and the FDA flagged 85% of those reports as serious. The effects reported most often — leaving out reports about overdose, misuse or the condition being treated, which dominate the raw list for common medicines:
- acute kidney injury198 reports
- drug hypersensitivity162 reports
- pyrexia162 reports
- rash137 reports
- nausea130 reports
- diarrhoea118 reports
- pneumonia116 reports
- renal failure acute115 reports
Read these as a signal, not a rate. A report does not mean gentamicin caused the effect — anyone can file one, and many describe people taking several medicines for several conditions. Crucially there is no denominator: FAERS does not record how many people took the drug, so these counts cannot be turned into “X% of patients” — a bigger number often just means a more widely used or more talked-about drug. Duplicates exist, and publicity drives reporting. For what is actually established, read the FDA label section above.
Source: openFDA drug/event (FAERS), retrieved July 25, 2026.
Related calculators
Frequently asked questions
Can you take gentamicin with other medicines?
It depends on the medicine. We check it against the FDA labels rather than guessing: our interaction checker searches each drug's own label for the other and quotes what it says, naming the section it came from. Run gentamicin against whatever else you take — and remember that a label not naming a drug is not the same as that combination being safe.
What brand names is gentamicin sold under?
We track 4 gentamicin-containing products in the U.S.: Gentacidin, Gentamicin Sulfate, Garamycin and Gentafair. They are the same active ingredient; they differ in form, manufacturer, price and FDA recall record.
What forms does gentamicin come in?
Across the brands we track, gentamicin is currently marketed as drops, topical, injectable and solution, per the FDA's National Drug Code Directory. Each form is dosed differently — follow the label for the exact product you were prescribed.
Is there a generic gentamicin?
Yes. Our catalog lists 3 generic gentamicin products alongside the brand versions. A generic has the same active ingredient and must meet the FDA's bioequivalence standard; it usually costs less. Ask your pharmacist which one your plan covers.
Has gentamicin been recalled?
The FDA's Enforcement database lists 1 recall record whose product description mentions gentamicin. The most recent: Gentamicin Injection (May 29, 2025). A recall applies to specific lots, not to the drug as a whole — check the record for the affected lot numbers.
Cite this page
- APA
- pharmaranks. (2026, July 24). Gentamicin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands. https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/gentamicin
- MLA
- “Gentamicin: uses, dosing, side effects & brands.” pharmaranks, 24 July 2026, https://pharmaranks.com/drugs/gentamicin.
We summarise public FDA and NIH sources — for a clinical claim, cite the primary source we link to as well.
Sources: FDA openFDA drug label, National Drug Code Directory, and Enforcement (recall) database. This page reproduces public FDA data and is not medical advice. Dosing is set by your prescriber.
Read the full FDA label for gentamicin on DailyMed (NIH) ↗.