From June 1993 to April 1994, a multi-centre prospective clinical trial was conducted to evaluate efficacy of domestic oral etoposide in the treatment of malignancies. One hundred and ten evaluable patients were assessed for both response and toxicity. Oral etoposide was given as single agent in 50 patients, including 18 patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC), 18 with malignant lymphoma (ML), 8 with gastric cancer and 6 with ovarian cancer. The response rate was 50% in SCLC, 83.3% in ML, 16.7% in ovarian cancer and 0 in gastric cancer. Sixty patients were treated with combination chemotherapy containing oral etoposide. There were 45 patients in the control group. The response rates in the treated and control groups were 57.1% and 55.6% in SCLC, 95% and 87.5% in ML, 20% and 0 in gastric cancer, respectively. Oral etoposide was well tolerated by the majority of patients. In conclusion, oral etoposide has definite antitumor activity in SCLC, ML and ovarian cancer.