A sensitive high-perforrmance liquid chromatographic assay has been developed to determine the concentrations of the HIV-protease inhibitor indinavir in human plasma. The sample pretreatment involved a protein precipitation procedure using 100 microl of human plasma and 400 microl of acetonitrile. Chromatography was carried out on an Octadecyl column using a mobile phase of acetonitrile-water (40:60, v/v). The water phase contained 50 mM phosphate buffer pH 6 and 4 g/l tetramethylammoniumchloride. Ultraviolet detection at 210 nm was used. The method has been validated with regard to specificity, detection limit, lower and upper limit of quantitation, recovery, accuracy, and inter- and intra-assay precision. Stability tests under various conditions were performed. The bioanalytical assay is now in use for the determination of indinavir in several clinical pharmacokinetic studies in HIV-infected patients.