Paclitaxel was administered at a dose of 175 mg/m2 in a 3-hour infusion every 3 weeks in platinum pretreated patients with ovarian cancer. 51 patients with a median age of 57 years entered the study. 33 (65%) presented with stage III and 18 (35%) with stage IV disease. 39 patients (76%) were previously treated with only one and 12 (24%) with two regimens. The median interval from the last previous chemotherapy was 4 months (range, 1-65). Ninety-eight per cent of the planned dose of paclitaxel was actually delivered. Overall and complete response rate was 26% (13/51) and 16% (8/51), respectively. All complete responses were observed among patients previously treated with only one regimen. Median time to progression was 10.26 months (range, 4.9-25.2+) and median survival 15.6 months (range, 1.3-27.1+). Factors influencing survival were performance status and the number of previous regimens.