Using the clonogenic assay to compare the cytotoxic activity of cisplatin and carboplatin on four human small cell lung cancer cell lines, cisplatin was shown to be equally or more potent than carboplatin at equitoxic doses with 1 h incubation. Increased potency of carboplatin was revealed when the drugs were tested with continuous incubation, although cisplatin still was the most potent drug when compared on a microgram to microgram basis. This relative increase in potency of carboplatin can at least partly be explained by the development of a more reactive form of the drug when stored in tissue culture medium. By combining either cisplatin or carboplatin with teniposide additive cell kill was obtained. Additivity was also obtained when cisplatin was combined with carboplatin. Since the two drugs have a different toxicity pattern a clinical synergy may be obtained by combined use of these two analogues.