Gemfibrozil, a hypolipidemic drug mainly used in the treatment of hypertriglyceridemic states, strongly inhibits the rat hepatic microsomal fatty acid chain elongation system in vitro. The inhibition is independent on the reducing cofactor used in the assay. Furthermore, gemfibrozil seems to act by inhibiting the rate-limiting step of the elongation process, the condensing reaction, without discriminating among the proposed three different condensing enzymes, devoted to condensation of saturated, mono-unsaturated and polyunsaturated acyl-CoA substrates.