A pharmaceutical formulation for topical, ophthalmic or nasal administration comprising one or more alkyldimonium hydroxypropyl alkylglucosides of general formula I or general formula II and a pharmaceutical active, ##STR00001## wherein R is a straight or branched C.sub.8-C.sub.24alkyl; A is --CH.sub.2CH(OH)CH.sub.2N.sup.+(CH.sub.3).sub.2R.sup.1X.sup.-, wherein R.sup.1 is a C.sub.8-C.sub.24alkyl and X.sup.- is a common counteranion, n is an average value from 1 to 6 and m is an average value from 1 to 2