The teachings herein are directed to antibacterial and anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical compositions that include myristic acid. Further embodiments herein are directed to methods of administering sufficient amounts of myristic compositions to patients in need thereof in order to prevent or treat inflammation and/or bacterial infection. Myristic acid has been established to outperform other cetylated fatty acids in treating infection and inflammation such as 1-TDC which includes cetylated myristic acid. The compositions and methods provided herein can further be used with additional anti-inflammatory antibacterial and delivery agents.
