[indices] Varying content ratios of clavulanate to amoxicillin in co-amoxiclav preps?

["kae" <kaecherie@yahoo.co.uk>]

Greetings,

 Question: Why are there varying content ratios of clavulanate to amoxicillin in co-amoxiclav (augmentin) preparations? Is it a formulation/chemical issue, does it affect anti-bacterial activity? I quote to you from Micromedex below but basically it just says the various preprations (and dosage strengths) are not equivalent, without the reason why. My main concern is if toxicity or anti-bacterial activity would be an issue if say one uses two '250' tablets instead of one '500' tablet. 

Thanks again and best regards,

Kae
Pharmacist

>From Micromedex: "All strengths of commercially available regular-release
amoxicillin/clavulanate tablets (non-chewable) contain a fixed amount of
clavulanic acid 125 milligrams (as the potassium salt) while containing
varying amounts of amoxicillin as the trihydrate. Therefore, two
non-chewable '250' tablets are not equivalent to one non-chewable '500'
tablet (Prod Info Augmentin(R), 2004). The chewable tablets contain
amoxicillin and clavulanic acid in ratios of 4:1 or 7:1. A '125' chewable
tablet contains 125 milligrams of amoxicillin and 31.25 milligrams
clavulanic acid (as the potassium salt) and a '250' chewable tablet contains 250 milligrams of amoxicillin and 62.5 milligrams clavulanic acid (as the potassium salt). Two '125' chewable tablets are therefore equivalent to one '250' chewable tablet. However, a '250' chewable tablet is NOT equivalent to a '250' regular tablet (Prod Info Augmentin(R), 2004). The extended-release tablets contain 1000 milligrams of amoxicillin and 62.5 milligrams of clavulanic acid/tablet; two 500 milligram regular-release tablets (125 milligrams clavulanic acid/tablet) are NOT equivalent to one extended-release tablet (Prod Info Augmentin XR(TM), 2004)"