The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of oral S-1, a dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) inhibitory fluoropyrimidine, were compared with those of protracted venous infusion (PVI) of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). In all, 10 patients with gastric cancer received PVI of 5-FU at a dose of 250 mg m À2 day À1 for 5 days. After a washout period of 9 days, the patients received two divided doses daily for 28 days. S-1 was administered orally at about 0900 and 1900 hours. The daily dose of S-1 in terms of tegafur was 80 mg day À1 in patients with a body surface area (BSA) of o1.25 m 2 , 100 mg day À1 in those with a BSA of X1.25 m 2 to o1.5 m 2 , and 120 mg day Continuous protracted intravenous infusion (PVI) of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) has a higher response rate, less frequent haematologic toxicity (mainly neutropenia), and more frequent hand -foot syndrome (HFS) than bolus injection of 5-FU in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (The Meta-Analysis Group in Cancer, 1998). Hand -foot syndrome and stomatitis each occur in about 23% of patients given 5-FU by PVI, whereas grade 3 leukopenia develops in only 1%. Most patients who receive 5-FU by PVI have no severe toxicity; the dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) is HFS (Lokich et al, 1989). Previous clinical trials have shown that PVI of 5-FU is one of the most effective and safest regimens. However, PVI requires a central venous catheter as well as an ambulatory pump, which is expensive and may lead to complications, and adversely affect patients' quality of life. Oral fluoropyrimidine derivatives have been developed to circumvent the problems associated with PVI of 5-FU. S-1 is one such derivative that combines tegafur with two modulators of 5-FU metabolism, 5-chloro-2,4-dihydroxypyridine (CDHP), a reversible inhibitor of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), and potassium oxonate, in a molar ratio of 1 : 0.4 : 1. Tegafur, an oral prodrug of 5-FU, is gradually converted to 5-FU and rapidly metabolised by DPD in the liver. The DPD-inhibitory activity of CDHP is 180-fold higher than that of uracil, confirmed to be an effective DPD inhibitor in the form of uracil/tegafur (UFT) in vitro. Potassium oxonate is an orotate phosphoribosyl transferase inhibitor that is distributed primarily to the gastrointestinal tract. This component of S-1 decreases the incorporation of 5-fluorouridine triphosphate into RNA in the gastrointestinal mucosa and reduces the incidence of diarrhoea.F-b-alanine (FBAL) is a main metabolite of 5-FU. F-b-alanine and fluorocitrate are thought to cause the cardiotoxic and neurotoxic effects of 5-FU by inhibiting the tricarboxylic acid cycle (Koenig and Patel, 1970;Okeda et al, 1990;Robben et al, 1993;Diasio, 1998;Kuwata et al, 2000;Kato et al, 2001). The CDHP component of S-1 inhibits DPD, the rate-limiting enzyme in the catabolic pathway of 5-FU. Consequently, the plasma FBAL concentration after oral administration of S-1 is significantly lower than that after PVI of 5-FU. However, information on plasma FBAL concentrations in patients given 5-FU remains scant...