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The sentence is as follows: Available drugs - antimonials, pentamidine, amphotericin B and miltefosine - have side-effects. The writer wants to know why they cannot say: The available drugs - antimonials, pentamidine, amphotericin B and miltefosine - have side-effects.

I can quote no rule but feel the first instance is more correct.

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    The choice between the null article and the definite article is often purely style-based, as here. I'd use the definite article. Most days. The definiteness is from 'those drugs which we are considering'. The null article (not the zero article, which 'looks' identical) is also 'definite'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    May 28, 2021 at 12:00

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You are using an example from non-standard English writing, i.e. technical writing, which frequently omits "unnecessary" words like the article "the." Compare this to how headlines are written. But this is not how properly worded English sentences are formed.

We would require the article "the" and dissuade your use of hyphens to offset your list. These should be replaced with an em-dash (—), with no spaces on either side.

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  • The isn't mandatory. I don't think anyone would object to e.g. "Australian monotremes — platypuses and echidnas — have long bemused naturalists." Whether "the" is natural depends on whether you think it's the list that matters or the general noun phrase before it. "Available drugs have side effects" (without the parenthetical) is quite natural, although you might prefer "All" at the start.
    – Stuart F
    Feb 8 at 10:29

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